Hermione Granger: Avenger
by Lil Drop Of Magic
Summary: How much trouble can a little, blue cube and an Asgardian trickster god be? (Sequel to Hermione Granger: Agent of SHIELD)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with the Harry Potter or Marvel franchises. There is quite a lot of borrowed dialogue from the first Avengers film in this story – none of which I own, either!

A/N Hi guys! I'm back! I told you I wouldn't be long. I've been desperate to post this ever since I watched Age of Ultron last week but I've just been too busy! Until now…

Warning to new readers – to avoid confusion, I _highly_ recommend that you read the first story in this series, Hermione Granger: Agent of SHIELD. This story starts immediately after that one finishes.

* * *

By the time Nick Fury arrived at the Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. facility in the Mojave Desert, Hermione Granger was in a very bad mood. She'd been summoned to the site's coordinates by Agent Coulson three hours previously and had been more than surprised to discover the secret S.H.I.E.L.D.-and-NASA-run base. What had been an even more disturbing sight, was the little, blue cube deep in the bowels of the facility that was making everyone quite flustered.

"But I thought it was lost in the final altercation between Captain Rogers and Schmidt?" she questioned, turning to Coulson, who had escorted her down.

"Howard Stark discovered it at the bottom of the ocean in nineteen forty-five," he replied, as they watched scientists in white lab coats hurry between various machines.

Hermione frowned. That bit of information had definitely been omitted from the report she'd read nearly a year ago. She had a feeling that Fury had specifically kept her in the dark about the Tesseract and suspicions whirled around her mind at the motives he may have had.

"Well, what am I doing here, then?" she asked. "I don't see how I can be of any use when you've got a whole team of scientists at your disposal; I know next to nothing about the Tesseract."

"There was a huge energy spike from the cube about an hour ago," Coulson explained. "It was completely spontaneous; no tests were being run at the time and now those energy levels are rising. Our lead scientist, Dr Selvig, has tried shutting it down but apparently nothing is working. If the situation doesn't improve soon, we will issue an evacuation."

Hermione appraised the man who seemed to be issuing all the instructions. When she had met with Jane Foster a few months ago to discuss Thor and the Nine Realms theory, Jane had spoken incredibly highly of Dr Erik Selvig. If S.H.I.E.L.D. had put him in charge of this research, then Hermione trusted that he knew what he was doing.

"You want me to see what impact my magic would have on it," she stated, not particularly thrilled at the idea. One of the scientists probed at the Tesseract with some sort of technical instrument and the cube spat out a surge of blue energy, making him step back in alarm. "Have you considered that I might make it worse?"

"Yes, but Fury wants you to try anyway," Coulson replied, ushering her to the middle of the huge laboratory. "We really haven't got a lot of options. Dr Selvig," he called, making the doctor turn. "This is Agent Granger. She's going to be running a couple of tests of her own on the Tesseract – Director's orders."

Dr Selvig didn't look very happy with that statement and Hermione tried not to be intimidated as he looked her over. "What sort of tests?"

"Magical ones," she replied simply. Hermione doubted that if Selvig hadn't had a previous run-in with a god from another world, he would have been so accepting of that answer.

"What do you need?" he asked instead.

"I think it would be best to have as few people here as possible," she said. "There's a strong possibility that my tests will only make the situation worse."

Dr Selvig nodded and started telling his team to move out.

"You might want to fill in Agent Barton on what you're planning," Coulson suggested, indicating far over his shoulder to where the wall and the ceiling met. When Hermione squinted, she could just make out a little figure perched, watching the proceedings.

"I'll be back in a minute," she said, before apparating next to Barton.

He flinched at her arrival. "Give me some warning next time," he muttered, not taking his eyes off the Tesseract.

"Sorry, it's quicker this way," she explained, taking a seat alongside him. "Um, hello, we haven't been properly introduced."

He spared her an unimpressed glance. "Really? You want to do this now?"

She was glad that he wouldn't be able to see her blush in the dim light. "I don't want things to be awkward between us after Anchorage."

"Why would that be awkward? We were just doing our jobs," he pointed out. "I'm actually pretty proud of the fact that I've got the record for holding out against the Sorceress for the longest: twenty-one seconds."

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise and she wasn't quite sure how to respond to that comment. "Oh! Well, Fury wants me to run some tests on the Cube to see if I make things better. You can wait outside if you…" He sent her another flat glance. "Or, okay, just stay here." She apparated back down to the floor and found that only Coulson and Selvig remained. "Are you sure you want to stay? I really don't know what's going to happen."

Neither man moved.

She approached the Tesseract tentatively and drew her wand from inside her jacket. A complicated machine was keeping the Cube held in place. From what she'd seen, the Tesseract didn't like being approached by anything else so she hoped that Selvig's contraptions wouldn't find any of her magic too interfering. Taking a steadying breath, she sent and maintained a basic shielding charm to wrap gently around the cube to try and dampen the interference it was radiating.

The misty, white light contracted around the Tesseract as the readouts from the machines fluctuated and the lights of the lab flickered. When the perimeter of the shield was only a couple of inches away from the surface of the Tesseract, a burst of energy shot from it, racing along the path of the magic, back towards her. It all happened so quickly that she had no time to defend herself as it blasted her backwards into one of the lab's machines, knocking her out.

* * *

"How bad is it?" Nick Fury asked Agent Coulson when he and Hill had stepped out of the helicopter.

"That's the problem, sir," Coulson replied, removing his sunglasses. "We don't know." He started to escort them down to the laboratory. "Dr Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago."

"NASA didn't authorise Selvig to go to test phase," Fury pointed out.

"He wasn't testing; he wasn't even in the room," Coulson explained. "Spontaneous event.

"It just turned itself on?" Agent Hill said in surprise, half a pace behind Fury and Coulson.

"Where are the energy levels now?" Fury asked.

"Climbing," Coulson replied. "When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered evac."

"Agent Granger wasn't able to help?" Fury enquired with a frown, as people hurried past him with large metal containers.

Coulson shook his head. "Afraid not, sir. The Cube's energy launched her across the room after only one spell. She was out cold. The medics have already gotten her out."

Fury nodded to show his understanding but he was disappointed that, for once, Granger couldn't save the day. The possibility that her magic and the Tesseract's energy wouldn't mix well was one of the reasons he'd kept its location hidden from her in the first place. "How long to get everyone out?" he asked.

"Campus should be clear in the next half-hour," Coulson responded.

"Do better," Fury ordered. With a nod of the head, Coulson left.

After ordering Hill to make sure the Phase 2 prototypes were shipped out and hearing the concerns of Dr Selvig, Fury spoke with his agent on the scene – once Barton had descended from his 'nest', anyway.

"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things," Fury reminded him as they walked towards the Tesseract.

"Well, I see better from a distance, anyway," he replied simply as one of the scientists warned of another energy spike.

"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?" Fury asked.

"No-one's come or gone as far as I can tell. But we both know that eyesight isn't as reliable as we once thought it was…" Barton said, his meaning left hanging between them.

Fury frowned and put his hands on his hips. "If you suspect Agent Granger, just come right out and say it."

"Selvig's clean," Barton stated, not intimidated by the Director's tone. "If there was any tampering at this end, sir, it can only be her."

A loud crack resounded in the lab and both men reached instinctively for their weapons, as did the other armed agents in the room. However, they quickly saw it wasn't necessary when the sprawled form of Agent Granger rolled across the ground a few feet away. She shook her head, as though dazed, and Fury walked forward to pull her to her feet.

Granger looked up at him with panicked eyes. "Sir, I know what's going to happen!" she cried. The moment the words were out of her mouth, the room started to shake and the Tesseract forced out another wave of energy.

"The door is being opened from the other side of space," Agent Barton stated and Granger nodded.

Another, more violent, burst of blue light came from the Cube. Others followed, growing increasingly powerful. All they could do was watch and wait, as a blue beam of energy burst from the Tesseract to the back of the laboratory. It certainly looked like a door to space, Fury decided, seeing the dark black hole that was being formed by the Cube's energy. The question was: who or what would be coming out of it?

All of a sudden, the energy creating the door exploded outwards at them all. Thankfully, although it was blindingly bright, it caused no great harm.

Fury looked back at where the door had been and saw a figure crouched there, steam rising from it.

"What do we do, sir?" Granger whispered, a tremor in her voice, as armed agents hurried forwards, their weapons trained at the arrival.

"Hold steady, Agent," he replied, watching the figure slowly rise. Even from a distance, Fury could see the menacing grin on the man's face. In his right hand, he held a long spear and, at the top, it glowed a similar colour to the Tesseract.

"Sir!" Fury called to him. "Please put down the spear!" He didn't hold out much hope for a diplomatic agreement with the newcomer but it was worth a try.

The man looked at the sceptre in his hand, as though only just noticing it was there, before shooting a burst of energy at him. Barton and Granger pushed Fury out of the way and took up attacking positions, as the sounds of gunfire echoed around the room. Fury watched as the stranger worked quickly to incapacitate his men; blasting them with energy, throwing knives and stabbing them with his spear. When Granger fired her first spell at him, he ducked out of the way and showed her a look of surprise. She launched a tireless attack on him, different coloured lights illuminating the room. The newcomer had to move quickly to avoid them but one spell caught his left hand, slicing into the skin and drawing blood. Anger flashed in his eyes and he shot a sustained beam of energy at her. Granger erected a shield but Fury could quickly see that it was failing. The stranger let out a cry of triumph when she was thrown backwards, landing a few feet from Fury. His initial concern was lessened when he saw her breathing shallowly and her eyes blinking.

Hearing a disturbance, Fury looked up. Agent Barton attempted to attack the stranger again but the man held him firm.

"You have heart." They were the first words the newcomer had said. He pressed the tip of his spear to the matching point on Barton's chest. A blue glow flowed from the sceptre into Barton, and Fury saw the agent's eyes turn completely black. A second later they had cleared, although his irises matched the colour of the spear. Though what was most alarming of all, was Barton returning his gun to its holster and looking to this man for orders. The sceptre must have some sort of brainwashing power.

Glancing around, Fury realised he had to get both the Tesseract and Granger out of there.

Fury quietly pulled the Cube out of Selvig's machine while the stranger brainwashed a different agent, and he made eye contact with Granger. He pointed at the Tesseract as he sealed it away inside a specially designed brief case, then at her, followed by mouthing the word, "Go!" He stood, intending to pass the case to her.

"Please don't," the stranger called softly. "I still need that."

Fury paused, shielding Granger from sight as she lay on the ground with wide eyes. Patience, he told himself. Wait for the perfect moment to give her time to get away. "This doesn't have to get any messier," he said over his shoulder.

"Of course it does," the man replied calmly. "I've come too far for anything else." Fury turned around to look the man in the eye. "I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

Unfortunately, that was a name that Fury was familiar with. The Asgardian had brought enough trouble to earth last year and he hadn't even stepped foot on the planet!

"Loki!" Dr Selvig repeated, getting to his feet. "Brother of Thor."

Loki didn't look particularly pleased to hear a mention of his brother and he threw a seething look in Selvig's direction.

Fury raised a placating hand. "We have no quarrel with your people."

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Loki replied imperiously.

"Are you planning to step on us?" Fury asked, keeping his voice calm.

"I come with _glad_ tidings," Loki insisted, walking casually across the lab. Fury tried not to tense as Loki got slightly closer to Granger's position. "Of a world made free."

"Free from what?" he asked, wary of Loki's light tone.

"Freedom," Loki replied simply. Fury felt his blood boil at the Asgardian's words. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart…" Loki spun and turned his spear on Dr Selvig, the now familiar transformation taking place in his eyes. "…you will know peace."

Fury twisted and threw the briefcase to Granger. She caught the case against her chest, twisted and disappeared with a loud crack.

Loki looked around in surprise.

"Yeah, you say 'peace'," Fury said, feeling a lot more relieved. "I kind of think you mean the other thing."

Loki glared at him. "It appears that the ant has rather a bite to it," he said but his tone wasn't as worried as Fury had expected it to be.

"Sir, Director Fury is stalling," Barton stated, walking over to his new master. "This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us."

"Like the pharaohs of old," Fury crowed.

"He's right. The portal is collapsing in on itself," Selvig confirmed, looking at one of his computer screens. "We've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."

"Well, then," Loki said, with a glance to Agent Barton. Barton raised his hand and shot Fury in the chest, knocking the Director onto his back. "Let's go get my Cube. And who knows, maybe there will be an extra prize for me too."

Fury lay on his back, completely winded, as the four men walked swiftly from the laboratory. He had no idea where Granger would have taken the Tesseract but he had to try and stop Loki and the others from seeking her out. He reached for his walkie-talkie. "Hill! Do you copy?" He yanked the bullet from his body armour. "Barton's turned."

The sound of gun shots echoed from not far away and he had faith that it was a positive sign. Fury glanced up at the mass of blue light that was swarming around the roof of the lab. He had to leave. Breathing was still difficult but he forced himself to run. "They're after the Tesseract. Shut them down."

There could be only a minute left before he'd be buried under Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. He climbed desperately, knowing that his helicopter would be waiting on the roof.

"We're clear upstairs, sir," Coulson's voice crackled through the walkie-talkie. "You need to go."

Fury stepped into the helicopter just in time, as the concrete began to crumble away a second after it had lifted. "Try and get in contact with Granger," he ordered, watching the facility disappear into the ground. "She's got the fate of the world in her hands."

* * *

It was with another rather bumpy arrival that Hermione appeared about half a mile from the Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S facility. The speed of her arrival forced her to roll along the ground a few times and the briefcase was knocked out of her arms, spinning off into the desert. She lay on her back, her mind fighting against a swirling darkness that was threatening to send her into unconsciousness again. That bloody cube was proving to be an absolute pain in the arse! Not only had it knocked her out when she'd tried her tests, but its energy had had a strange effect on her magic; seemingly making her more powerful. When she'd woken in the medic van, she had attempted to use her wand to _carefully_ remove an IV drip from her arm, but her spell had shot the drip across the interior of the van hard enough to dent the metalwork and leave her arm a rather bloody mess.

Hermione hadn't paid this much mind though, because she'd known how important it was to warn the others about what was coming. She didn't understand how, but it was as though the Tesseract had communicated with her, passing on knowledge about itself. The doorway was being opened from the other side of space and it couldn't be for a good reason. Hence, her rather scrambled arrival back at the laboratory.

Underneath her, the ground shook and she could hear a monstrous rumbling noise, but it was as though someone kept manipulating a volume dial in her head as she continued to fight unconsciousness. She forced herself to sit up. Using her wand to combat her concussion was out of the question with her magic so awry and she cursed as she realised that her jacket and all of its magically concealed contents had been taken off of her when she'd been evacuated.

Until she heard otherwise, she'd have to assume that Loki was still at large. If that was the case, then he'd certainly be seeking the Tesseract. The Director had entrusted her with keeping the Cube out of Loki's grasp. But with limited resources in the middle of a desert, malfunctioning magic and a battered body, what was her best option?

The greatest way she knew to keep something hidden was to use a Fidelius charm. The problem was she'd never cast one before! It was a difficult spell even without her magic problems but what else could she do? She could take the Tesseract to another secret S.H.I.E.L.D location but if Loki had turned Barton, then none of those places were secure any more.

There was also the strong chance that the Tesseract wouldn't want to be moved by her magic. It had reacted violently to the simple shield spell. However, that had been when it was preparing itself to open the doorway. Perhaps it wouldn't be so hostile now?

Hermione got unsteadily to her feet and lit her wand to search for the silver briefcase. The overly intense beam from her wand meant that it was easy to spot, but she disliked being this unfamiliar with her magic.

She opened the briefcase and contemplated the glowing, blue cube inside. It certainly seemed calmer now. She reached out cautiously with the tips of her finger and felt the smooth surface. A calmness came over her. As strange as it sounded, it was almost like the Tesseract was comforting her. She felt the magic within her settle. She could perform the Fidelius charm. She was going to stop Loki.

Hermione resealed the briefcase, feeling rejuvenated. In order to keep a secret, she first needed to make one. Spotting a small, twisted and gnarled tree a few metres away, she carried the case over to it. She used her magic to gouge a hole into the dusty soil. The spell was still powerful, but this time she was in complete control. When the ditch was a couple of feet deep, she carefully let the briefcase drop to the bottom before covering it with the dirt. That was the easy part.

She took a deep breath and mentally went through the magical theory of the Fidelius charm before beginning. _The Tesseract is buried next to a Joshua tree in the Mojave Desert,_ she told herself repeatedly. She started making the required intricate wand movements and felt a flurry of excitement as the expected series of glittering, golden lights floated in front of her. She continued her actions and, after a couple of minutes, she began to recite the complicated incantation for the first of seven times. As each repetition went by, her confidence rose a little more.

A searing pain erupted near her right shoulder blade.

She screamed and dropped her wand, breaking the spell before she'd had a chance to complete it. Glancing down, she nearly fainted at the sight of the black arrow that had pierced through her flesh.

Barton was near.

Hermione tried to take a step forward to pick up her wand, but her body wasn't obeying her wishes. She fell to her knees, her legs unable to support her weight anymore. A vehicle was approaching but she was beginning to black out.

Panic flooded through her. Was she dying?

The world twisted sideways as she fell to the floor.

No, this couldn't be the end! Not now! Not when they were all facing such a danger.

She glanced over to the Joshua tree. There was a chance that the Tesseract wouldn't be found, but it was only a slim one…

She'd failed and she knew it.

Hermione closed her eyes. She didn't want Loki's triumphant face to be the last thing she ever saw.

"You're certain she's not dead?" she heard him question.

"The arrow was laced with a sedative, sir," Agent Barton replied. "An arrow between the scapula and clavicle won't kill you if you avoid the rib cage and the subclavian artery, which I did." This was small relief to Hermione when she heard Barton's next words. "Are you going to turn her now and make her reveal the location of the Tesseract?"

"Not necessary," Loki replied. "The soil around that tree has been disturbed. That's where we'll find it. Besides, I want to watch her eyes change when I speak to her heart."

His words echoed menacingly in Hermione's mind as her body finally gave in to the pull of the drug.

* * *

A/N Cliffhanger! To be fair, I didn't really give you any in the first story.

Please bear in mind that I'm not going to be updating this story anywhere near as frequently as I did last time because I'm now very much back to work after my two week Easter break.

I hope you enjoy(ed) watching Age of Ultron!

Fingers crossed for an update next weekend!


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for all the support!

Let's get on with the story...

* * *

The pain in her shoulder was the first thing that Hermione became aware of as she began to regain consciousness. It took her a moment to recall why it was so sore but when she did, her eyes opened wide.

"Agent Granger is awake."

She looked in the direction the voice had come from and saw Agent Barton watching her intently from where he leant against the wall of the fairly nondescript, grey room.

"Where am I?" she asked groggily, slowly forcing herself into a sitting position. Her shoulder throbbed painfully and she gingerly pulled the neck of her shirt to the side to inspect the damage. However, the area was wrapped in bandages, so she couldn't really see anything.

"I removed the arrow and patched you up," Barton replied, ignoring her earlier question.

Hermione was about to thank him but then she remembered that he was the one who shot her in the first place. "_Where am I_?" she repeated testily.

"Your ire is unnecessary," he answered, his voice betraying little emotion. "There is nothing you can do; we have the Tesseract and your weapon. Soon, you too will bask in the enlightenment the Tesseract will give you."

She resisted the urge to make a barbed comment in reply and just thanked her lucky stars that Barton seemed unaware that she could disapparate whenever she chose. It just had to be before Loki reared his head and turned her into a mindless drone. Hermione only wished that Barton would give her a clue as to their whereabouts. If she chose an apparition destination that was too far away, she ran the risk of splinching herself, and that could prove fatal if she didn't have a wand to patch herself up.

"How long have I been out?" she asked instead, hoping that his answer would help her gauge the possible distance they had travelled. His icy eyes narrowed. "If I'm going to be on your side, I don't want to waste Loki's time by asking him trivial questions."

Within three strides, he had her against the wall by her throat. She scrabbled at his hand as he squeezed the life out of her. "Don't play games with me, Granger," he warned lowly.

She rammed her toes into his groin in desperation and his grip on her throat slackened enough for her to draw a ragged breath. Ignoring the fire in her shoulder, she tried to aim a kick into his stomach but he caught her foot and twisted it. She use his hold to launch a round kick to his head with her other leg and felt a satisfying thump as her foot made contact. Her momentum brought them both to the floor as the door opened.

"The children are fighting, I see," Loki said, sounding amused.

Hermione scrambled away from both men, clutching her injured shoulder. It was definitely time to go. She hated the idea of leaving her wand in Loki's clutches but she had others she could use back in DC. It also pained her to abandon the Tesseract but there really was nothing she could do to retrieve it. She had to be smart and live to fight another day with her mind as her own.

"I've heard much about you, Agent Granger," Loki told her, calmly walking forwards, sceptre in hand.

"Well, you obviously didn't hear about this," she replied and promptly disapparated.

* * *

"Banner's agreed to come in," Coulson said by way of greeting when Fury answered his call. This wasn't exactly the time for pleasantries.

"Good," he replied. "We need to get a trace on the Tesseract, whether Granger still has it or not."

"Still no news from her?"

Phil Coulson might well be the embodiment of a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, but Fury could detect the concern in his voice and he knew it wasn't entirely about that pesky cube. "Not a word," he answered. Fury could only fear the worst where Granger was concerned. He almost hoped that she was dead, just so that it meant she wouldn't be turned against them like Barton and Selvig. If she was brainwashed into working for Loki, it would be almost impossible to stop him, especially if she revealed that there were many more just like her back in the UK.

"Stark's not going to be pleased," Coulson warned.

"Then it should serve as good motivation for him to be helpful for once," he replied shortly. Tony Stark's happiness was not exactly high on his priorities. Granger knew the risks when she joined S.H.I.E.L.D, just like the rest of them. "Get over to Stark Tower as soon as you've got his report ready."

"Yes, sir."

Fury hung up, his mood worsening. They needed a boost, just the smallest piece of good news to give them hope. It would be nice to bring _something_ positive about the last twenty-four hours to the World Security Council at their imminent meeting, but he knew better than to count on dreams and wishes.

His phone rang again and he answered it automatically.

"Sir?" a familiar voice said.

"Granger, is that you?" he asked, hardly daring to believe it.

"Yes, sir," she replied. "But Loki's got the Tesseract. I'm sorry."

She certainly sounded it but a finger of suspicion crept up his spine. Could Loki have turned Granger and sent her back to act as a spy for him? Fury wouldn't put it past him.

"What happened?" he questioned.

She launched into a brief explanation of events since leaving Selvig's lab with the Cube. It certainly sounded plausible – once you accepted that she was able to create such a powerful secret-keeping spell.

"Where are you now?"

"I apparated to Denver because of its relatively central location in North America and then I kept on moving until I got to the S.H.I.E.L.D. safe-house in Chicago," she answered. "It was the closest place I could think of to get in contact with you."

"And how do I know that any of this is the truth and not what Loki has told you to say?" he asked coldly.

"Loki?" she repeated, sounding puzzled. "You… you think he's turned me?"

"That was quite a lucky escape you had there," he pointed out. "Almost as though it's too good to be true."

Granger made an indignant noise. "I've lost the Tesseract, my wand, all of my other supplies and had an arrow through my shoulder. I would hardly call that '_too good_', sir," she argued angrily. "Barton and Loki didn't know I could apparate without my wand. That's not luck; that was good precaution on our part by not flashing my abilities around. Need I point out, that we might have been more prepared for this situation, had you seen fit to _tell_ me about Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S in the first place!" she barked. "Now, are you going to give me leave to come back, or do you want to see the colour of my irises first?"

"I'm sure that you could disguise the colour of your eyes given all your abilities," he replied coolly, but she was winning him over.

"What do you want me to do to convince you?" she asked with a sigh of frustration.

"Barton knows too much about S.H.I.E.L.D. I need you to kill him," Fury ordered, waiting in anticipation for her reply.

There was a moment of shocked silence from the other end of the line. "_What?!_ Are you crazy? I'm not going to kill Agent Barton, Fury. He's been brainwashed, he's not consciously choosing to do these things. And even if he was, you and I both know that I'm not a murderer. So, if that's how I'm going to pass your little test, count me as a failure!"

He nodded in relief. "Calm down, Granger; you passed."

"Come again?" she asked, sounding perplexed. "But you said – "

"Loki's spell severely screws up your moral compass," he interrupted. "Barton tried to kill both me and Hill too. If you _thought_ you needed to kill someone to keep your cover intact, the spell would have stopped your conscience from getting in the way."

"Well, thank Merlin that's settled before things got ugly," she replied with a sigh. "I'll go wherever you need me, sir. But I have to make a stop in DC first so that I can pick up a spare wand and some supplies."

"I can have a quinjet to you in twenty minutes," he answered. "And then I want you in New York."

"Yes, sir."

"Try not to get abducted until then," Fury instructed with a hint of sarcasm.

"I'll try my best, sir," she responded dryly.

"Good. Now make some calls – there are quite a few people who'll be relieved to know you're alive and brainwash-free."

* * *

Steve's eyes widened when he saw Agent Granger standing outside the door to his apartment. He'd only seen her the previous day when they'd gone to the New York Public Library, but she seemed to have changed since then; he just couldn't quite put his finger on how.

"_You're_ the debriefing packet Fury was talking about?" he questioned.

She smiled tightly and held up a thick wad of paper. "Not quite," she replied. "But there are some things we thought it might be easier to explain in person."

Steve stared at the strange girl, finding it impossible to read her. She was only a slip of a thing but he knew better than the majority of people that it was what was on the inside that counted most. The trouble was, after he surmised that she was lying to him yesterday, Steve wasn't sure he _trusted_ what was on her inside (despite Fury's obvious reliance on her). However, things these days didn't seem to be as clear cut as when everyone he worked with had been hell bent on stopping Schmidt and Hitler. He was working with an intelligence service now, not the military, and he had to remember that. These were a different set of people.

"I see," he replied. "I suppose you'd better come in."

He unlocked the door but she put her arm across the frame before he could push it open. He looked over at her in surprise.

"You were right," she told him solemnly, her eyes mournful. He knew at once what she was referring to – her denial of taking part in a war. The accusation of her being a liar had hung in the air between them as soon as he'd seen her outside his door. "I'm sorry."

Steve was shocked to see that her eyes were glistening. He'd had no idea that his words would cut her so deeply and he considered the possibility that he'd severely misjudged the woman in front of him. "I'm sure you had your reasons," he mumbled, feeling uncomfortable. He'd never knowingly made a girl cry before and he felt ashamed. Not to mention the fact that he'd been a complete hypocrite; he'd lied numerous times to try and enlist in the army! "Let's forget it ever happened," he suggested, watching in dismay as a tear trickled down her cheek.

Agent Granger cuffed the tear away and cleared her throat. "I would appreciate that," she answered. "No one knows apart from Fury…"

"Your secret's safe with me, Agent Granger," he assured her. A small part of him wondered if he was being manipulated. If she really _was_ supposed to be keeping her participation in some sort of war a secret, then why would she admit that to _him_? All the movies he'd seen of spies when he was growing up had portrayed secret agents as somewhat cold and calculating – almost devoid of emotions. Why was Agent Granger crying about being called a liar? That wasn't normal for a spy, was it? Or was she simply toying with his emotions to earn his trust? Steve honestly didn't think he could find her any more confusing.

She gave him a watery smile. "It's _Hermione_, remember?"

He nodded. "Hermione, right. Well, I hear the world needs saving." He pushed the door open and gestured for her to enter. His reservations about her would have to be put to one side while they sorted out this 'Loki' guy.

He offered to take her jacket and he didn't miss the way she winced and held a hand to her right shoulder as she took it off.

"Are you all right?" he asked with a frown.

"I'll be fine," she replied, which signalled to him that she _wasn't_ fine at that moment, but he knew better than to pry. "Is there somewhere that we can sit? I think we'll probably be here for quite some time."

Steve showed her to the couch and sat next to her, wondering what sort of information needed a personal explanation. He turned to her expectantly, watching as she took a deep breath.

"This doesn't get any easier no matter how many times I do it," she muttered mostly to herself, her hands twisting in her lap. He wondered why she was nervous.

"Captain Rogers, there's something you should know about me," she began, looking at his coffee table rather than at him. "Director Fury and I hadn't planned on informing you so quickly after our first meeting because we wanted you to have time to adapt to life in the twenty-first century and choose your own path in this time, but the arrival of Loki has changed everything."

She said this all so quickly that his mind was having a hard time in keeping up.

"If we're to work together to stop him and retrieve the Tesseract, there's no point in hiding my true self from you," she continued, finally looking at him.

Steve blanched at her outburst. He had absolutely no idea where she was going with this. Perplexed, he watched as she withdrew something from inside the sleeve of her lilac shirt. It appeared to be a…stick? He resisted the strong urge to sit further away from her on the couch.

"I know this is going to come as something of a surprise to you, Captain," she warned gently. "But I'm a sorceress. I can perform magic."

"Uhh." That wasn't a particularly intelligent response but he was having a very difficult time taking those words in. "When you say, 'magic'…?" he questioned.

Hermione flicked her stick slightly and the small box that he used to change the channel on the television suddenly sprouted legs and started to dance across the coffee table. With another movement of the stick, a burst of light shot across the room and impacted on his wall clock. The clock began to shrink until it was no bigger than his thumbnail. Its dramatic change in size made it fall from the wall but she seemed to stop its momentum with her stick and made the clock float over to them.

"Take it," she urged when the clock floated above his knee. He reached out tentatively and brought it closer to his eyes for inspection. It certainly looked like the same timepiece and he discovered that it still ticked when he held it to his ear.

Steve looked back at her in amazement. Had he really thought that this woman couldn't get any more confusing?! "I don't… This is," he stuttered. "This is _unbelievable_."

Hermione grimaced. "I hope you'll forgive me for sounding arrogant, but what I've shown you is a bit like the tip of an iceberg."

Steve shook his head slightly. He was sat next to a sorceress. _A sorceress!_ That was possibly the strangest thought he'd ever had. "What else can you do?" She bit the corner of her lip slightly and looked at him with impish eyes, making him realise he'd asked the wrong question. "Ok, what _can't_ you do?"

"Not a lot, as it happens," she replied with a much more casual shrug than Steve was comfortable with. "Unfortunately, one thing that I _can't_ do is locate the Tesseract or Loki. I don't have a spell for that."

He blinked, realising that the imminent danger the world was facing had completely slipped his mind. However, given that he'd just been informed of the existence of magic, it was probably understandable. "That's a shame," he answered. He knew that they should focus on Loki and the Cube but he had far too many questions he was bursting to put to her. "Hermione, forgive me for asking, but where does your ability to do magic come from?" As soon as he said the word 'asking', he noticed her become tense. Her mood dampened and she withdrew her gaze from him again. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to – "

"No, it's all right," she said, speaking to her knee. "It's perfectly natural that you have questions; I'd be stunned if you didn't." She paused and he held his breath, wondering what was troubling her. When she eventually looked up, he found himself transfixed by her solemn gaze. "Ask me no questions, Steve, and I'll tell you no lies."

He sat stunned, taken aback by her words and the gravity with which she'd said them.

_You're lying. _The accusation he'd thrown at her in the library yesterday echoed in his mind. She'd admitted her deceit just minutes ago and informed him that no one apart from himself and Fury knew the truth. But how much else was she lying about and to whom? He was burning to ask her something, _anything_. The way that she'd phrased it made it sound like her _whole life_ was a lie. But why was she allowing him to assume that? That was incredibly risky, even for an agent. How would he be able to trust her after this?

_No one's ever lied to me._ These words came back to him too and Steve realised what she was saying to him. Hermione might not be telling him her truths and her secrets, but she wasn't going to deceive him either. And the fact that she was even admitting that there were so many lies in her life, showed that she was taking a huge chance by putting her trust in him. From the way that she was trembling, Steve could tell how much that announcement had taken from her. "Thank you," he said, trying to make his sincerity clear.

She swallowed thickly and nodded, her eyes slightly teary again. It disturbed him that his words had made such an impact on her but he hoped that she would be happier not hiding behind lies – at least not with him.

If she _was_ manipulating him (like he'd considered earlier) then she was the best actress that he'd ever seen because he was utterly convinced by her.

He pushed all those burning questions aside. Instead, he said, "Tell me about Loki."

* * *

Hermione slowly stretched the muscles around her right shoulder, running through the various exercises the doctor was giving her. She was relieved to find that the combination of the medical lab and her magic had managed to remove any pain from the area and the scans showed that they had limited the tissue damage inside. They would have been able to heal more of her shoulder (and probably rid her of the nasty scars) if she'd sought medical help sooner, but she'd considered it more pressing to inform Captain Rogers about herself. It had been the early morning by the time they had left his apartment after going through all the relevant information on Loki, the Tesseract and the possible repercussions. Steve had headed off to meet the quinjet that would take him to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base, while Hermione had apparated straight to the helicarrier itself to meet with the medics.

"Agent Granger report to the flight deck," a familiar voice spoke in her earpiece. "There's someone there who wants to kick your ass for getting yourself abducted."

Hermione grinned. "Nice to hear from you too, Romanoff. I'll be straight up." She turned to the doctor, who gave her a disapproving frown. "It's okay if I leave, isn't it?"

"I suppose so," he muttered, peering at her over the rims of his glasses. "Normally, I'd recommend you take it easy for a few days but you're hardly a _normal_ case, are you?"

"No, I guess not," she agreed lightly, before thanking the doctor and bidding him farewell. She at least had the courtesy to exit the medical room via the door before apparating outside to the flight deck. The people around her were so busy working that they hardly gave her unexpected arrival a glance before moving on to their next job.

Hermione soon spotted Natasha further along the deck, talking with one of the engineers, and made her way over there. When Natasha saw her, she excused herself from the engineer and walked towards Hermione with a frown on her face.

"So, do you want me to kick your ass out here or would you rather go somewhere more private?" Natasha asked, the ocean air ruffling her short red locks.

Hermione shrugged, barely aware of any tightness remaining in her shoulder. "I don't mind how many people see me take down the infamous Black Widow."

Natasha allowed herself a half-smile. "I'll let that slide just this once. Now, come on, let me see the damage."

Hermione tried to wave her away but Natasha rarely took no for an answer. Feeling oddly like a child who'd been caught with their hand in the biscuit barrel, Hermione pushed aside the collar of her t-shirt with a sigh. "Agent Barton shot me through the shoulder with a drug-tipped arrow," she mumbled, as Natasha examined the entry and exits scars. "I'm lucky he's such a good shot. Do you know him?"

"We've met," she replied casually, stepping back again. Natasha opened her mouth to say something else but loud music started emanating from somewhere inside her jacket. She fished out her cell, looking confused, but Hermione flushed when she recognised the song – _Spellbound_ by AC/DC.

"I think that's probably for me," she admitted with a grimace. "Tony thinks he's being funny using that as a ringtone for me."

Natasha wrinkled her nose and thrust the cell in Hermione's direction. "He's all yours," she said, before walking further down the flight deck.

Hermione answered the call and held the phone to her ear. "Do you really have to hack into people's phones just so I hear Brian Johnson screeching at me?"

"First of all, s_creeching?_ How dare you?" Tony asked, sounding highly offended. "Secondly, I wouldn't have to hack into other people's phones if you kept your one on you. That's the world's most advanced phone, Granger, and I only let you have one because of our business together. I can't believe you've left it lying around somewhere for any old S.H.I.E.L.D. schmuck to pick up."

"I'm sorry I didn't have time to search around for my belongings when I was trying to stop a psycho from the other side of space," she replied coolly.

"Yeah, you did a really good job there, didn't you? How's the shoulder?"

Hermione pursed her lips. "Did you call just to annoy me?"

"No, I'm serious," he replied, toning down the sarcasm. "How's your shoulder? It can't be too bad; you fixed yourself up fine last time you got shot."

"Yes, well, I didn't get impaled with an arrow last time."

"I'm sorry, did you just say you were shot with an _arrow_?" Tony asked after a moment of silence.

"Did Coulson fail to mention that?" she responded breezily. "How careless of him."

"Speaking of; did you know his name's _Phil?!" _

Hermione rolled her eyes. "_No_!" she gasped mockingly. "I thought his name was _'Agent'_!"

"Did Pepper tell you I said that?" he said suspiciously.

"Tony, please tell me that the reason you called was to inform me that you're on your way over here?" she asked, ignoring his question. "This is serious. We need you."

"Could you repeat that last part? I didn't quite hear you."

"You heard me fine, Tony. Don't be a jerk."

"All right, kid, don't sweat it. I'll be there. I've just got to finish up reading my notes."

"Thanks," she replied with a sigh of relief, but then frowned. "So, why _did_ you call? You weren't worried about me, were you?"

"Don't be absurd," he denied. "I've been reading this stuff all night – even _my_ brain needs a break every now and then."

"So instead of grabbing a cup of coffee or going for a refreshing stroll, you decided to call me? How sweet," she teased. She knew he hated any reference to the fact that they were friends. "Thank you for your concern. My shoulder is as good as can be expected and I can't wait for you, my dear friend, to arrive so that we can fight evil side by side!" She waited for his response but when she looked at the phone, she saw that he had hung up. She grinned. That was certainly one way to get rid of Tony Stark!

Sensing that someone was watching her, Hermione turned around warily. A dark-haired man, that she was rather familiar with, quickly looked away with an embarrassed expression. She found it strange to see Dr Bruce Banner on board S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier after tracking him across Asia for the last few months. He was completely unaware of her observations of him, of course, and she planned to keep it that way. They certainly didn't want to give him cause to become upset or angry.

She smiled and walked towards him. When he saw that she was coming, he looked even more uncomfortable.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr Banner," she said, holding out her hand. "I'm Agent Granger."

He took her hand and shook it quickly. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry for staring."

"That's all right," she replied easily. "I'm guessing you know more about me than just my name?"

His eyes glanced over her and he nodded slightly. "Er, yeah. A bit more. I've seen a couple of files and Agent Romanoff's told me some pretty amazing things…" He fell silent for a moment, then suddenly jerked and held a hand to his head. "Oh my God, I'm staring again! I'm so sorry."

Hermione laughed and held up her hands. "Honestly, it's fine. I expect it's the genius scientist in you, trying to figure me out – but before you slice me open; I have a strong no testing rule on myself. It drives Stark crazy."

Banner chuckled, with a dark look in his eyes. "Sounds smart. I hear things like that can go very wrong."

Hermione winced slightly. What a stupid thing to say to him! "And now it's my turn to apologise, Dr Banner."

He waved it away. "Not necessary and, please, call me Bruce."

Hermione smiled and nodded. A loud roar announced the arrival of a quinjet and they turned to watch it land.

"You don't ever have to be concerned for my safety when I'm with you," she announced, almost hoping that what she said would be lost in the roar of the jet's engines. She didn't really want to talk about the Hulk, but she felt like she should offer him some reassurance.

Bruce glanced over at her sceptically. "You're sure?"

"Watch." She disapparated to a few feet away and saw his eyes widen. "I can travel hundreds of miles in a second," she said as she walked back over to him. "And I have plenty of other spells in my repertoire. That's not a threat, by the way," she added quickly. "I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you; I'm not that kind of an agent."

He nodded slowly as he stared at her again. "Thank you. That's, er, good to know."

"Dr Banner!" a voice called and they both turned. Steve and Natasha were coming towards them.

Hermione felt her stomach flutter uneasily at the sight of him. Had she been foolish in admitting to him that her S.H.I.E.L.D. cover story was a lie? She hadn't told him that in as many words but he was clever enough to figure out the meaning behind what she _had_ said.

It was almost exactly a year since she had first met Fury in that empty warehouse in Brooklyn and she had lost count of the number of lies she'd told after that day. Her story was such a ludicrous one that she'd gotten away with them all, except the first time she'd tried to flat-out lie to Steve.

When Fury had sent her to reveal her true abilities to Captain Rogers last night, she hadn't mentioned to him that Steve had caught her in a lie before. She hadn't really seen the point. In order for them to get the Tesseract back, she and Steve had to be able to work together, and the only way she could see that happening was if she didn't even try to deceive. But, more than that, she didn't _want_ to lie.

She wasn't about to spill all her secrets to him, of course (there was far too much at stake for those in the wizarding world for that!) but a small weight that she'd been carrying with her ever since Brooklyn had been lightened, knowing that there was someone in her life that she wasn't playing false.

She just hoped that she could trust him…

Banner shook Steve's hand. "Oh, yeah, hi. They told me you would be coming in."

"Word is, you can find the Cube," Steve said brightly.

"Is that the only word on me?" Banner asked.

"Only word I care about," he replied.

Steve glanced over at Hermione and did a double take. "But I thought you were still on land?"

"Nope, I came straight here. I can travel a bit faster than you and I had a doctor's appointment to make." Her uneasiness settled slightly at the normal way he was interacting with her.

He frowned. "Oh. Why didn't you bring me here with you, then?"

"I thought it might be a bit too much, too soon, for you," she replied with a shrug. "Besides, I couldn't deny Coulson the chance to have some time with you – he'd never have forgiven me. Next time I need to zip across the country, I'll take you with me, if you want?"

"Sounds like a date," Natasha said with a twitch of her lips, making Hermione blush.

Banner looked between Steve and Hermione. He face broke into a relaxed smile. "You know, it makes such a nice change to not be the default winner of 'The Strangest Person on Earth'."

"Do you get a trophy with that title?" Steve asked with a grin.

* * *

A/N Thanks for reading!

Some of you may be disappointed that Hermione managed to get herself away from Loki so quickly but it serves him right for wanting her awake for the sceptre spell. Fear not, their paths will obviously cross again!

Until next time...


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Hi! Thanks for the support!

* * *

"Will you _stop_ staring at Rogers?" Natasha whispered to Granger as the helicarrier deployed its retro-reflection panels. "Anyone would think you have a bigger crush on him than Coulson does."

The younger woman's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed red. "I do _not_ fancy Steve," she whispered back, looking mortified, and Natasha smirked.

"Whatever you say, Granger," she replied with a shrug. "I've gotta admit he looks good for a ninety-five year old." It wasn't necessarily an appropriate conversation to be having at that moment but it served as a nice distraction from Clint's abduction. A newly familiar feeling of unease swept through her but she pushed it aside; they were doing all they could to find Loki and she just had to hope there was a way to remove his influence from Clint when they caught up with him.

"Gentlemen," The Director greeted Banner and Rogers.

Rogers took out his wallet and handed over two ten-dollar bills, still looking around the bridge in wonder. Fury raised an eyebrow. "What's the other one for?"

Rogers glanced in Granger's direction and Fury nodded with a small chuckle.

Natasha walked forwards and squatted down next to one of the computer screens as Coulson explained what they were doing to track Loki and his accomplices. She tried not to let her eyes linger on the photo of Clint that was displayed on the monitor.

"That's still not going to find them in time," she said, referring to their sweeping of every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet.

"You have to narrow your field," Banner said. "How many spectrometers have do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Fury asked.

"Call every lab you know," Banner instructed, taking off his jacket. "Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays." He looked over at Granger. "Agent Granger, I believe I read in the report that you were hit with a burst of energy from the Tesseract."

Granger nodded, looking cautious. "That's correct."

"Do you mind if I scan you for residual radiation? It'll help me rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we'll be able to rule out a few places."

Natasha could see that Granger wasn't entirely comfortable with this suggestion but she nodded anyway. "That's fine. Anything I can do to help."

Fury nodded, looking pleased that they were finally making a start. "Show to him the lab, Agent Granger."

"Yes, sir," she replied.

Natasha heard Banner apologize to Granger as they walked out the room but the rest of what he said was lost as the doors closed behind them.

Time passed very slowly when you were waiting. No doubt, Clint had warned Loki how to avoid detection from cameras so they were simply waiting (and hoping) for the Asgardian to make a mistake.

Natasha went to one of the training rooms to put herself through her paces but she kept everything she needed close by in case they got the order to move out. She was joined not long afterwards by Captain Rogers.

"Want to go a few rounds, Cap?" she asked, pausing her assault on the punch bag. "I know it must have been a while but I promise I won't go easy on you." He looked unsure and she had a feeling she knew why. "You ever fought a woman before?"

"I don't think there was a lot of it around in the forties," he admitted.

"Well, there's a first time for everything," she said, wiping the back of her hand across her sweaty forehead. "And believe me, you're in for a much more competitive time going against me than Granger," but then she frowned. "Or maybe you wouldn't; you might actually stand a chance against her with your super-soldier body. She finished with Banner yet?"

Rogers shook his head. "I haven't seen her."

"Pity," she shrugged. "It would've been interesting to watch. You'd probably break Barton's all-comers record against her, well, if you ignore the other night when he shot her when her back was turned."

Rogers looked like he wanted to ask her something but he shook his head. "She almost makes me feel like an ordinary person."

"And how do you think the rest of us feel?" Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow. "Now, come on, show me how men in their nineties fight."

* * *

"We got a hit," one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents announced, drawing everyone's attention. Steve looked over hopefully. They'd been sweeping the cameras for hours without any luck yet. "It's a sixty-nine percent match. Wait. Cross match, eighty-four percent."

"Location?" Coulson asked, walking forwards to get a closer look at the screen.

"Stuttgart, Germany," the agent replied. "28 Koningstrasse. He's not exactly hiding." The computer screens showed an image of an elegantly dressed Loki walking briskly into a grand, white building with other formally attired people.

"Captain," Fury called and Steve turned obediently. "You're up."

Steve saw Granger stir next to him. "Sir, you're letting me go too, aren't you?"

Fury surveyed her for a moment. "Are you ready to face him again?"

She bristled angrily. "Of course I am. I know the dangers more than anyone. He's not getting anywhere near me again! You know I can have myself and Captain Rogers at the scene in less than five minutes. The quinjets are quick but they're not _that_ quick. We can take care of Loki before he carries out whatever scheme he's got planned."

"All right," Fury allowed. "But Romanoff will be right behind you in the jet. Keep Loki contained until then."

"Yes, sir," she replied and after a glance at Steve, they both headed swiftly for the door. "Are you still sure you want to travel my way?"

"If it gets us to Loki quicker, then I'll do whatever you want," he responded. "Just give me a minute to suit up and then we can go."

She nodded in agreement and they went their separate ways to change. When he caught sight of his new uniform, he took a moment to prepare himself for this next mission; he was fighting a Nordic god with a Sorceress as his partner… Was he really awake?

Hermione was waiting for him when he emerged. If he'd had more time to think about it, he probably would've been self-conscious in his stars and stripes compared to her simple black S.H.I.E.L.D-issued clothes. She held out an alarm clock to him.

"Hold onto this and don't let go until I say so," she instructed. "We're going to travel to the west coast of Portugal first and then I'll get us to Stuttgart. A direct journey is a bit further than I'm comfortable with." Steve held onto the clock, only feeling slightly silly for doing so. "If this was anyone else, I'd warn about dizziness and motion sickness, but I've read that you've got a strong metabolism so you should be fine. Remember, don't let go."

Hermione tapped the clock with her wand. Suddenly, he felt an incredibly strong force pulling him forwards. The world around him blurred into a swirl of darkness and he could only make out Hermione's pale features as he awaited her instructions.

"Get ready!" she yelled over the howling wind that buffeted them. "Now!"

Steve wrenched his hand away from the clock and only just managed to keep his feet on solid ground despite his greater than average agility.

He tried to peer around at their surroundings but it was completely dark. He thought he could hear the sound of waves crashing in the distance though. Hermione took out an electronic gadget and was noticeably pleased at what it showed.

"Good, we're on the outskirts of Lisbon," she said. "We're going to travel slightly differently to Stuttgart but it's just as quick. I'll land us in an alley right next to the building Loki entered. We can talk tactics when we see what he's up to."

Steve didn't have time to make an objection, even if he'd wanted to, because Hermione grabbed his hand and an instant later he felt like he was being pushed through a very small tube. He blinked his eyes and saw that he was, indeed, standing in an alleyway. Screams and yells could be heard from nearby. Without hesitating, he and Hermione started sprinting in that direction. Perhaps they were too late?

Scores of people were running out of the grand building that Steve had seen Loki entering. A glowing, golden figure emerged, walking serenely along the red carpet. He and Hermione instantly ducked behind a car for cover.

"What should we do?" she whispered, eyes wide. "Do we take him out now?"

A police car arrived but, with a blast from Loki's spear, it flipped onto its roof and ground to a halt. Another set of screams made them look into the crowded square, where imitations of Loki stopped the people escaping.

"There are too many civilians," he replied. "Loki could turn it into a massacre in an instance. We wait and see what he wants."

"_KNEEL!_" Loki's yell echoed around the square. The stunned people of Stuttgart obeyed his demand, slowly sinking to the ground.

Loki raised his arms and smiled. "Is not this simpler?" he asked the crowd. He started walking through them, giving every impression of a slave master. "Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation."

"This doesn't make sense," Hermione whispered to Steve quickly. "Why is he doing this? He must know that we'll be coming for him. Why here? Why now?"

"The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity," Loki continued.

She was right. Loki wasn't stupid. Why would he come here alone just to spiel off to a hundred people? There must be something else going on that he and Hermione weren't aware of.

"You were made to be ruled," Loki announced. "In the end, you will always kneel."

A lone figure rose from the crowd. "Not to men like you," an, elderly man said.

Steve and Hermione shared a look. This was about to turn sour.

"There are no men like me," Loki claimed confidently, as though the man was stupid.

"I'll protect the man. You get the rest of the crowd away safely and then we'll take care of Loki together," Steve ordered rapidly.

"There are _always_ men like you," the man replied bravely.

"Look to your elder, people," Loki said calmly, raising his spear. The blue light at its tip began to glow more brightly. Steve stood and started running towards the old man, preparing to leap. "Let him be an example."

A flash of blue energy shot out of the end of Loki's spear but Steve landed in front of its intended target, his vibranium shield reflecting the energy back at Loki. The force of the light knocked Loki to the ground and his duplicates around the square disappeared. Steve could see people turning their heads and starting to filter away, so he assumed that Hermione was passing the message around.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany," Steve said loudly, trying to keep Loki's attention away from her, "and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

"The _soldier_," Loki said then chuckled, getting to his feet. "The man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time," Steve replied confidently, hoping that Hermione was ready.

The crowd gasped and those closest to Loki stumbled backwards as thick, silver chains wrapped themselves tightly around his torso and upper body. A malevolent glint flashed in Loki's eyes despite the constrictions on his chest. "And the Sorceress too! I was hoping she'd be stupid enough to come near me again." He twisted his head around as much as he could given the restrictions on his body, searching for Hermione. "Though I see she lacks the bravery to come out of the shadows. No matter, I like a good chase." Another surge of energy erupted from the sceptre but Loki directed its impact onto his chains. The metal links burst and the remaining crowd scattered with more yells and screams.

Steve hurled his shield at Loki's chest to distract him and caught it on the rebound, before punching him hard on the jaw, forcing Loki's head to one side. The Asgardian looked offended that Steve would dare strike him and he countered by trying to break Steve's skull with one end of his sceptre, followed by the other.

"Don't let him turn you!" Hermione cried desperately in his earpiece as he fought off Loki's blows.

Loki thrust the bottom of his sceptre into Steve's chest, propelling him backwards.

A red light flashed across the square, hitting Loki in the shoulder. Loki staggered slightly and was unable to stop a white light impacting on his hand, forcing him to drop the spear. Steve flung his shield at Loki again as the sceptre shot across the square, no doubt under the influence of one of Hermione's spells. He leapt towards Loki, intending to keep the man busy while she hopefully magicked the deadly weapon away, but instead of landing on Loki's back, Steve met solid ground. Loki had vanished.

Hearing a gasp, Steve looked around and spotted Loki a few feet away, half in the shadows, spear back in hand. "Found you," he snarled, scything his weapon through the air at what looked like empty space. Steve could only assume that Hermione had somehow made herself invisible.

A sustained beam of white light forced Loki backwards but he shot blue energy at her from his sceptre, forcing her to cease. The sceptre's energy rebounded off of an unseen barrier, creating a black scorch mark on the ground. Steve sprinted over to Loki and aimed to whack him across the head with his shield. Loki leaned out of its path and jabbed at Steve with his spear, successfully making contact with a swipe across his back, forcing Steve to the ground. He rolled away to prevent Loki from ramming the spear into his skull. In his mind, it felt like he had confronted Schimdt's forces only a couple of weeks ago, but he was obviously rustier than he thought because he was making more mistakes than he normally would.

Steve managed to get himself into a crouching position and poised himself to launch another attack. Suddenly, Loki's legs snapped together, his arms jumped to his sides and a strange whiteness appeared on his body, almost like he'd been instantly frozen. Loki fell backwards, completely rigid, and lay motionless on the floor as his sceptre clattered to the ground.

"Don't get too close," Hermione's voice warned in Steve's ear as he got to his feet. "My magic isn't as effective on Loki. I don't know how long it'll last or if it's even worked properly."

Steve set his shield comfortably on his arm again and walked forward cautiously. "I'm ready."

"All right. I'm going to use another spell to call his sceptre over to me," she said and carried out the magic a moment later. When the sceptre came to a rest in mid-air a few feet away, he realised that he could just about determine her outline, but it was bizarre because it looked almost like she'd covered herself with camouflage paint to blend in perfectly with the background. Trying to completely distinguish her from the rest of the square was making his eyes feel strained so he returned his gaze to Loki. Thankfully, the Asgardian was still imitating a statue.

"Can he see and hear us?" he asked curiously.

"Yes," she replied. "He's fully conscious but I've half a mind to combat that. I wouldn't normally cast another spell when one is already in effect but, like I said, I don't know how my magic reacts to Loki."

"You must do what you think best," Steve said, because he really couldn't offer her any advice where magic was concerned. There was a moment's pause and then a scarlet burst of light hit Loki in the chest. He remained rigid but his eyes were now closed. Steve relaxed slightly.

He glanced over at Hermione's general direction and was relieved to see that she was becoming visible again. "Loki has been apprehended, sir," she said.

"Good work," Fury's voice answered to both of them. "Romanoff is about twenty minutes away. Bring Loki back in the quinjet. You've done enough magical globe-hopping for now, Granger. We can't risk this going wrong."

"Yes, sir, I understand," Hermione replied. "I shall contain Loki's weapon while we wait and perform a spell to keep people away. Just let me know when Agent Romanoff is close so I can lift it."

"Understood."

"Sir, the only strategic reason for Loki to be here on his own, would be to create a diversion," Steve pointed out. "Have there been any altercations around the globe that could have been carried out by Agent Barton or another accomplice? There may well be a link to this event in Stuttgart. I expect that Loki had his reasons for this location."

"We're analysing footage from the museum gala that Loki gate-crashed," Fury replied. "We've got at least one casualty. Loki seemed to take particular interest in the man's eye. We've contacted the German authorities and they're on their way to both the man's home and workplace to investigate possible security breaches."

"Who was he?" Steve asked. Despite his short time in this century, he was already aware that many high-security facilities used retina scans to identify possible entrants.

"Dr Heinrich Schafer, a world-renowned scientist."

He and Hermione exchanged worried glances at this news. Whatever reason Loki had for hacking into a scientist's security system, it couldn't be a good one.

"Sir, would it not be more prudent for me to journey to these places?" Hermione suggested. "I may be of assistance."

"Your priority is bringing in Loki," Fury replied bluntly.

"Yes, sir, understood," she answered, though Steve could see she was frustrated by Fury's decision. Hermione glanced over at him. "You'd better come here. If you're not next to me when I cast the repelling charm then it will probably keep you away too."

Steve followed her suggestion and moved closer. "It can't discern between different people?"

"Not exactly," she replied, "Everyone else who comes near us will suddenly remember an urgent job they have to do and turn around."

She handed Loki's sceptre to him then he watched as Hermione pointed her wand into the air, while her small hand kept a firm grip on his arm. Gentle bursts of silver vapour streamed into the night sky and spread out, before dissipating into the air. After a minute, she seemed satisfied and brought her wand back to her side.

"Could you watch him while I take care of this?" she asked, taking the sceptre back. He nodded his assent but still kept half an eye on Hermione as she placed the spear inside a metal box that she'd removed from her pocket and used her magic to make grow to an appropriate size. She tapped the box a couple of times, presumably to lock it, then shrank the container again and returned it to her pocket. The whole process took less than a minute. He refocused all his attention on Loki before she got a chance to notice him looking.

A loud roar, like that of an engine, made them both glance up. A yellow light arced through the sky, moving swiftly towards them. As it got closer, Steve recognised the Iron Man suit belonging to Tony Stark. It got about forty feet from them before dramatically altering its direction and flying away again. They watched its path as it flew over the buildings but, once again, Stark seemed to change his mind and journeyed towards them.

"Perhaps I should cancel the repelling spell," she suggested wryly, "otherwise Tony might end up getting a little dizzy."

"That's probably a good idea," he replied, watching Stark get warded from them for a second time.

Silver sparks shot from the end of her wand and the invisible barrier bloomed into vision, before shattering into snowflake-like wisps of light. The ground shook slightly as Stark finally landed in the square, cracking the bricks in the floor. Up close, Steve could see just what an incredible piece of mechanical engineering the Iron Man suit was. It really was like father, like son, where the Starks were concerned.

"Mind telling me what the hell that was?" Stark asked Hermione, his voice understandably irritated.

"Security measure," she replied simply. "It keeps unwanted people away."

There was a sudden movement at Steve's feet and he realised in alarm that Loki was conscious and making a bid for freedom! A blast from the palms of the Iron Man suit launched Loki across the square and he landed against the ground with a thud, before groaning and rolling over.

All three walked forwards, ready to strike.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games," Stark said, an impressive number of weapons powering up from his suit.

Loki stared at them. His body began to glow and Steve tightened his grip on his shield, but the glow was merely due to Loki's change to a rather less ostentatious choice of clothing. The Asgardian held up his hands.

"Good move," Stark responded, his weapons powering down. Hermione and Steve kept a more careful eye on Loki, knowing how slippery he could be.

"We're closing in on your location," Agent Romanoff's voice spoke in their ear. "Is the area secure?"

"Everything's clear to proceed," Hermione replied. "And Tony's here."

Steve heard an irritated sigh in reply. "Oh, joy," Romanoff muttered.

"I heard that!" Stark called.

Loki continued to silently stare at them.

A few minutes later, they were all aboard the quinjet, heading back to base. Steve soon realised he'd been wrong about Loki staring at them, because it was quite clear that the Asgardian only had eyes for Hermione. If this was bothering her, she didn't let it show, but it made Steve feel uneasy and he could tell by the way that Stark was frowning, that he didn't like it either.

"Is he saying anything?" Fury asked, once Agent Romanoff had updated him.

Steve saw Romanoff glance over her shoulder, and her eyes darted between Loki and Hermione, who was reading on the opposite row of seats. "Not a word," she replied. "But he can't keep his eyes off Granger," she added quietly.

"Just get him here," Fury responded. "We're low on time."

Steve moved slightly closer to Stark, who was standing next to him. "I don't like it."

"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" he replied smoothly. "Or how he looks like he wants to eat Granger?"

Steve frowned. He wasn't happy about the latter but he had been referring to the former. "I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop. I'm lucky she was there."

"Still, you are pretty _spry_ for an older fellow," Stark said with a hint of mockery, turning to him. "What's your thing, pilates?"

"What?"

"It's like calisthenics," Stark explained. "You might have missed a couple of things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."

"_Tony,_" Hermione said warningly from where she sat.

Steve could feel himself getting agitated at the condescending way Stark talked. "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you," Stark replied easily. A rumble of thunder followed his words and as he looked out the cockpit of the jet, Steve could see lightning forking through the sky.

"Where's this coming from?" Romanoff said, as more thunder and lightning lit up the night. The quinjet shook lightly and Steve noticed a somewhat anxious expression on Loki's face as he finally took his eyes off Hermione and glanced around.

"What's the matter?" Steve called. "Are you scared of a little lightning?"

"I'm not _overly_ fond of what follows," Loki replied, with another worried look at the ceiling. The storm appeared to have rattled Hermione too, for she tucked her reading device away and stood with her wand ready.

Something impacted on the roof of the jet, making it shudder, but, thankfully, stay airborne. Steve reached for his mask and shield but saw that Stark had donned his own mask and opened the door at the rear of the jet.

"What are you doing?" Steve yelled as Stark walked towards the opening.

Hermione reached out as though to stop Stark but he brushed her hand off. She moved closer to Loki and stood protectively in front of him.

A large, muscular blond man landed on the ramp, a huge, metallic hammer in his grasp. The man walked forwards and Stark held his arm up, the energy building in his palm to strike the newcomer down. However, with a thrust of the hammer, Stark was forced backwards off his feet, colliding with Steve, and sending them both sprawling to the floor.

A moment later, a roar of anger met Steve's ears as he struggled to disentangle himself from Stark. Suddenly, he was lifted off of the ground by the strange man, Stark dangling next to him. "What sorcery is this? Where has she taken him?" the man bellowed. Looking past him, Steve could see what he was so upset about; Hermione had used her magic to remove both herself and Loki from the quinjet.

"Sorry, I don't feel like sharing," Stark replied, then blasted the blond man across the jet, causing Steve to be thrown to the floor again.

The aircraft listed dangerously. "If you're going to do this, take it outside before you rip the plane in half!" Natasha yelled.

Stark actually seemed to heed somebody's advice for once, because he launched himself into the night sky, the stranger following close behind.

Steve grabbed one of the parachutes lying nearby and started to unpack it.

"If that's another Asgardian, I'd sit this one out, Cap," Agent Romanoff called.

"I don't see how I can," he replied, pulling the straps of the chute into place across his chest. Hermione would be able to take care of Loki, he knew that. But this new Asgardian packed a much bigger punch and seemed determined to find Loki. He couldn't let Stark face that on his own.

"These guys come from legend," Romanoff told him. "They're basically gods."

"There's only one God, ma'am," he retorted. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." He picked up his shield and walked calmly towards the back of the aircraft. Without a second's hesitation, he dived into the air and began plummeting to the ground below.

* * *

A/N For those of you that care about this sort of thing, Loki arrived at the museum a lot later in this version of the story because he'd be aware how quickly Hermione could get there and stop his 'eyeball' plan. Also, the quinjets annoy me because sometimes they seem impossibly fast and, yet, much slower on other occasions!

Anyway, thank you for reading!

Lil Drop of Magic


	4. Chapter 4

"Your pursuer is gaining, sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. told Tony and provided a small diagram to support his words. "At his current speed, he will make contact in five seconds."

Tony swerved suddenly, employing a bizarre flight pattern to try and shake Thor off. Yes, _Thor_. He was being chased by the 'god of thunder' himself. Unfortunately, true to J.A.R.V.I.S.'s words, a moment later he felt the Asgardian impact against him, trying to force him to the ground that was hundreds of feet below. Tony was only too happy to let Thor take them on this course, but a few feet from the rocky surface he used a surge of energy from his suit to flip them over so that his opponent was dragged through the ground, leaving a deep scar in the earth and dislodging trees. Tony burst away from Thor's hold and righted himself, watching as the Asgardian eventually ground to a halt.

Tony held his palm up, ready to fire if Thor attacked again. Slowly, the blond man got to his feet, a scowl deeply set in his features. "You have no idea what you're dealing with," Thor claimed gravely.

Tony retracted his mask and looked unconcernedly around the forest they hand landed in. "Er… Shakespeare in the Park?" he mocked, before adopting his best British accent. "Doth Mother know you wear-eth her drapes?"

"This is beyond you, metal man," Thor warned, not rising to Tony's ridicule. "Your sorceress must release Loki so that he can face Asgardian justice."

"He gives up the cube, he's all yours," Tony answered. "Until then," his face armour slid back into place, "stay out of the way." He turned to leave but couldn't resist one last barb. "Tourist."

A grunt from Thor made Tony turn just in time to see the hammer that was hurtling towards him, but it didn't give him enough time to do anything to stop it. The severity of the blow forced him backwards, clean through one of the trees. He used J.A.R.V.I.S. to inspect the damage to his suit. "Okay," he muttered in irritation. If Thor wanted a fight, then Tony would damn well give him one.

When he managed to get to his feet, Tony could see that Thor was already swinging that infernal hammer again. A surge of energy from Tony's chest knocked Thor backwards and Tony flew forwards to forcefully kick the Asgardian back a further few yards.

"Sir, Miss Granger is on the line," J.A.R.V.I.S. said. Thor raised his hammer to the sky, lightning crackling all around it.

"I'm a bit busy right now," Tony growled as Thor directed the lightning into his suit, the force of it making him take a step back and his suit to sizzle.

"I've closed the line," J.A.R.V.I.S. responded. "Power at four-hundred percent capacity."

"How about that," Tony muttered and then shot the energy straight back at his opponent. It hit Thor square in the chest but he flipped backwards with the force of the energy to land squarely on his feet. The two men stared at each other for a split second then launched into the air on a collision course. Tony used a surge of power to take control of their joint flight, directing them up beyond the treetops.

"Miss Granger is on the line again," J.A.R.V.I.S. told him as Thor wrenched himself free of Tony's strong hold via a punch to the head. Tony managed to grab onto the Asgardian's arm as they flew back to the ground again.

"_Not now!_" Tony replied, the pair of them splintering another couple of trees as they crashed down to the earth.

Annoying as it was, Tony marvelled at the strength Thor possessed. He probably would've crushed Tony's arm with his bare hand if he wasn't able to distract him with a blast from his palm. But nothing Tony did seemed to have any impact at all – apparently even Thor's skull was immune, seeing as he could happily head-butt Tony backwards a few yards.

Tony braced himself to resume their struggle.

"_I'm a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world."_

Tony looked around in confusion. Where the hell was that god-awful song coming from?

"_Life in plastic, it's fantastic!"_

"Sir, Miss Granger has overridden my system," J.A.R.V.I.S. said and it was only then that Tony realised the music was coming from his suit.

"_You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere." _

Thor was watching warily, still primed for attack.

"_Imagination, life is your creation._"

"Answer her damn call," Tony instructed J.A.R.V.I.S. angrily. Thankfully the music stopped at once. "How the hell did you do that?" he asked, getting the most important question out of the way first, of course.

"My phone has finally been returned to me and I'm back at S.H.I.E.L.D's base," Granger replied simply, unperturbed by his annoyance. "A number of people were only too happy to help. Thor Odinson," Granger called calmly. "I must apologise for my swift exit from your company a few minutes ago."

Thor's eyes widened as he realised who was speaking to him and he raised his hand to summon his hammer. "You are the Sorceress who absconded with my brother! I demand that you release him to me!"

"I'm afraid that's not possible," Granger replied. Tony shifted impatiently. Life was boring when you were nothing but a glorified speaker. "Loki has placed Earth in danger. I know in the past you've worked with us to stop him. Jane Foster speaks incredibly highly of you."

Thor's face softened and the arm holding the hammer lowered slightly. "You have spoken to Jane?"

"Yes, I was lucky enough to talk with her about the Nine Realms you told us of," Granger answered.

Tony sighed nosily. "Get to the point, Granger. I am milliseconds away from hanging up on you."

Thor pointed his hammer at Tony. "You are short of manners."

Tony shrugged. "But I'm _not_ the one wearing a curtain."

Thor let out a bark of laughter. "You attempt to use words to wound because you know you cannot defeat me."

Tony sent out a repulsor blast and flew forwards to punch Thor across the head. "_Tony!_" Granger screeched in his ear, but he told J.A.R.V.I.S. to cut her off. Thor raised his hammer ready to strike Tony down.

Something whipped across their vision, rattling them on their bodies.

"Hey!" a new voice called. Tony turned to look at Captain Rogers. He couldn't decide whether he was pleased or irritated to see him. "That's enough!" Rogers jumped down from the dislodged tree he'd been standing on and turned to Thor. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here – "

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!" Thor answered passionately. Tony could tell that the Asgardian was getting frustrated.

"Then prove it," Rogers replied calmly. "Put that hammer down."

"Ah, yeah, no. Bad call," Tony pointed out quickly. "He loves that ham – " He was prevented from completing his sentence because Thor slammed the hammer into his chest, forcing him to fly several yards backwards.

"You want me to put the hammer down?" Thor asked threateningly. From his position huddled on the floor, Tony watched Thor leap into the air, hammer raised, as Rogers crouched behind his shield. The energy wave resulting in the clash of weapons was enough to flatten everything in the immediate area.

Tony struggled to his feet alongside Thor and Rogers.

"Are we done here?" Rogers asked, panting slightly.

"_Come on Barbie, let's go party_!"

With a scowl, Tony quickly answered Granger's call. He was going to have to do something about that ringtone as soon as he got back on the quinjet. "Tell Romanoff to pick us up," he instructed wearily. "We're done."

* * *

Even though Hermione had handed over custody of Loki as soon as they had successfully arrived at the helicarrier via a portkey, she could still feel his pale gaze boring into her. She knew she wouldn't be feeling the effect quite so much if it wasn't for her suspicion that they were doing _exactly_ as Loki wished.

He was currently being escorted down to the holding cell while Hermione herself had just relayed Tony's message to Natasha that they had finished their petty squabbling (Hermione's choice of words, not his).

"That was some pretty quick retrieval work," a voice called over her shoulder and she turned to see that Bruce had come onto the bridge. "I take it everything went as planned?"

Hermione wrinkled her nose slightly. "Not quite. We had an unexpected encounter with Loki's brother but I have been reassured that Tony and Steve have convinced him to cooperate. They're on their way back now."

"Loki's brother?" Banner repeated questioningly.

"Thor."

His lips pulled into a half smile. "Yes, of course. How could I forget?"

Selected monitors around the bridge showed Loki entering into the cell. Hermione and Bruce moved closer to the table and watched the encounter between Loki and Fury closely.

"In case it's unclear," The Director's voice called, "if you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass," Fury opened the hole that was concealed under the cell and Hermione watched as Loki peered down into it. "It's thirty-thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" He closed the door then pointed at Loki. "Ant." He indicated the control panel. "Boot."

Loki laughed. "It's an impressive cage," he admitted, holding out his arms. "Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury replied.

"Oh, I've heard," Loki said with a hint of amusement and he turned to look directly into the camera. "A mindless beast." Hermione glanced at Bruce and couldn't stop herself from placing a comforting hand on his arm. "Makes play he's still a man." Bruce looked back at her with a calm expression and she saw that Loki's words had had little impact on him. There was even a trace of amusement in his eyes and she marvelled that he could be so composed at Loki's mockery. "How _desperate_ are you," Loki continued, "that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury responded, walking forwards. "You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me _very_ desperate. And you might not be glad that you did," he warned.

"Ooh," Loki breathed. "It _burns_ you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, _unlimited_ power. And for what?" he questioned before turning again to the camera for a few seconds. "A warm light for all mankind to share? And then to be reminded what real power is."

Fury gazed back with a dogged expression before giving a derisive twitch of his lips. He turned to leave the room. "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something."

Loki turned once more to the camera. Hermione wondered if he was trying to psyche out her or Bruce. Or perhaps his stare was meant for both of them?

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce joked once the feed had cut out. She hoped that he was as unaffected as he seemed by Loki's words.

"He's certainly got a way with words," she allowed with a wry smile. "I just wish we had more pieces of the puzzle." Hermione glanced up at Agent Hill who had come to stand near them. "Have we heard anything more about Dr Schafer?"

Hill nodded. "A number of bodies have been discovered at his laboratory. They were shot with arrows," she added matter-of-factly.

Hermione bit her lip at the implication. She sincerely hoped that they would be able to free Agent Barton of Loki's influence soon.

"What was Loki's motive for the assault?" Dr Banner asked. "What was Dr Schafer's area of interest?"

"We're waiting for it to be confirmed but we believe he was the owner of the largest single source of iridium," Hill replied. "It was kept in a high security vault and due to Loki's particular attention to Dr Schafer's eyeball, we are anticipating that it was this that was stolen."

Hermione turned to Bruce questioningly. "Iridium?"

He frowned. "A member of the platinum family, incredibly dense and the most corrosion-resistant metal we know of."

"Any idea what Loki would want it for in relation to the cube?" Hill asked.

Bruce shook his head. "Sorry."

"Granger," Fury's voice said in her ear. "Meet me outside the holding cell." Hermione excused herself from the others and made her way as instructed.

"I assume Stark and Rogers have resumed their journey?" he asked as she walked.

"Yes, sir. They should be here in the next twenty minutes along with Thor," she replied. "But I'm not sure that he and Tony are going to be the best of friends."

"There's a surprise," he muttered in response.

"Thor will want to see that his brother has come to no harm," Hermione said, turning the final corner.

"As long as he doesn't try to abduct him again," Fury replied lowly. He nodded at her approach. "I want you to read Loki's mind," he instructed, getting to the point. "See if you can figure out what he's got planned."

Hermione felt her eyes widen and she took a moment to form her reply. "Sir, I know that I used that technique to free Natasha a few months ago but I didn't have any alternative. Delving into someone's mind is an absolute last resort."

"And you don't think we've reached that stage with Loki yet?" he questioned. "You heard me in there, Granger. You know how desperate we are. If we don't stop Loki then who knows how many people will die? I seem to remember that a situation like this is the very reason that you got in contact and then agreed to become a part of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"But when I connect with someone else's mind it is a two-way link. My abilities don't work the same with Loki. If he is able to reverse the direction of thoughts and memories then there's a huge chance that he will discover _everything_." She hated the way that her voice trembled but there was no denying that she was scared of the possible consequences.

"You would put the lives of a few ahead of the rest of the world?" Fury asked lowly. "If we wait too long, Loki might destroy us _all_. I'm not willing to take that chance. _Are you?_"

Hermione opened her mouth and then closed it again. What if this _was_ the only way to stop Loki? She'd never be able to live with herself if it turned out she hadn't been brave enough to take that final step to save the world. So far it felt like they were always ten steps behind him. She doubted he could have anticipated her ability to see his thoughts and memories so there was a good chance that she could determine his plans.

"If he gives his permission, I would like to practice on Thor first so that I'm not going into Loki's Asgardian mind completely blind," she requested.

Fury nodded. "Agreed."

When Hermione and Fury approached Thor with their plan twenty minutes later, he looked quite taken aback. "You do not jest? This is a serious suggestion?"

"I understand that the idea of someone else seeing into your mind can make you feel vulnerable," Hermione replied calmly. "But if I am to have a greater chance of discovering Loki's plans then it would help if I could experience another Asgardian's mind first. It's possible that your brains and ours are different."

Thor frowned. "I cannot be certain that Loki's mind will be as alike to mine as you presume. Although my brother was raised on Asgard, his true heritage is that of a Frost Giant of Jotunheim."

Hermione blinked in surprise. She recalled that Jotunheim was one of the realms Thor mentioned to Jane Foster. "Are Frost Giants very different to your race? Loki doesn't look like he comes from a different realm."

"That is my father, Odin's doing," Thor explained. "Loki and I only found out last year that he is the true son of Laufey. However, I still very much consider him my brother." Hermione would be touched by Thor's concern if she wasn't so appalled by Loki's recent actions. "I would speak with him before you attempt your mind sorcery. It is possible that he is not yet beyond reason."

Hermione managed to resist the very strong urge to wear a sceptical expression but Fury duly asked her to accompany Thor down to the cell.

"We will be able to hear everything you say," Hermione warned. "Fury's not going to take his eye off Loki for a second."

"That does not concern me," Thor replied. "I have nothing to hide."

Hermione nodded. "If you're unable to sway Loki's mind, I won't violate your privacy. It seems unnecessary considering he's a different race from you too."

Thor looked at her thoughtfully. "We may have more in common than you'd think. If it helps us stop my brother, I am willing to try."

"Thank you," Hermione replied. She keyed in the code to let Thor enter the corridor that would take him to Loki's cell. "I'll wait out here."

He nodded at her then entered, the door sliding shut behind him. She pressed another button to give her access to the footage and audio of what they were saying and she knew that the scene would be repeated all over the ship.

Hermione watched an amused smirk spread across Loki's features as he saw his brother walk towards him. This was in stark contrast to the sombre look Thor wore. "I thought you dead," he said lowly, stopping a couple of feet from the glass.

"Did you mourn?" Loki mocked.

"Of course we did!" Thor objected, obviously hurt by Loki's accusation. "Our father – "

"_Your_ father," Loki corrected. "He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?"

"We were raised together," Thor reminded him. "We played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?"

Loki's gaze hardened. "I remember a shadow, living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I, who was, and should be, king!"

"So you take the world I love as a recompense for your imagined slights?" Thor shook his head. "No. The Earth is under my protection, Loki."

Loki chuckled darkly. "And you're doing a _marvellous_ job with that! The humans slaughter each other in droves while you idly fret. I mean to rule them," he suggested lightly, "as why should I not?" Hermione felt a chill down her spine. He certainly wasn't being candid.

"You think yourself above them?" Thor questioned.

Loki seemed surprise that his brother would ask him such a question. "Well, yes."

"Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother," Thor said sadly. "A throne would suit you ill."

Loki turned away with a snarl. "I've seen worlds you've never known about," he boasted scornfully. "I have grown, _Odin's son_, in my exile. I have seen the true power of the Tesseract and when I wield it – "

"Who showed you this power?" Thor asked in concern. "Who controls the would-be king?"

"I am a king!" Loki shouted vehemently, losing his cool for once.

"Not here!" Thor insisted angrily. "You give up the Tesseract, you give up this poisonous dream!" Thor's gaze softened and he placed his hand against the glass. "You come home."

Loki seemed to pause at the intensity of his brother's gaze but then he smirked. "I don't have it," he admitted lightly and Thor turned away in frustration. "You need the Cube to bring me home but I've sent it off I know not where. I suppose you might as well make yourself comfortable aboard this ship." Loki turned towards the camera. "We're all going to be enjoying each other's company for quite a while longer."

Thor walked out of the room and Hermione cut the feed. She wasn't surprised that Loki had shown no desire to put a halt to his plans but she couldn't help feeling a little disappointed anyway.

There was a very determined look on Thor's face as he approached her. "It is time to try your spell. We must put a stop to Loki's schemes."

"As long as you're sure," Hermione checked. His resolute nod was enough to convince her and she showed him into a side room so they weren't obstructing the corridor. "The spell isn't supposed to cause you pain or discomfort," she explained. "But you should glimpse old memories, thoughts and emotions as I do. I will avoid sensitive areas if I can. Try your best to push me out with your mind because that's probably what Loki will try to do."

Thor nodded in understanding and stood stiffly, prepared for her spell. Hermione took out her wand and stared into Thor's eyes. "_Legilimens_," she whispered.

Immediately, she was assaulted with images of a dark haired youth that she presumed to be Loki. The memories of the happy times Thor and Loki shared with each other in quite staggering scenery flitted past quickly. Hermione caught glimpses of a fight between the adult brothers on a vast, almost translucent bridge. She felt Thor's despair as Loki fell and she tried to move away from the memories so as not to upset him. So far, his mind was no different to the very few others that Hermione had experienced. She couldn't feel any great resistance from Thor so she pushed the idea of Jotunheim and the Frost Giants forward. His mind responded, throwing forward scenes from a huge battle in a dark and desolate landscape. Hermione almost gasped at the sight of the blue-skinned, red-eyed, muscular figures she saw.

Hermione carefully broke the connection. "Are you all right?" she asked, looking Thor over.

"Yes, I believe so," he replied cautiously. "That was a most unusual experience. Did you see everything I saw?"

Hermione nodded. "But that all stays completely between us. I'd never dream of telling anyone else."

He waved his hand and shook his head slightly to imply that he really wasn't concerned about that. "My mind reacted in a way that was suitable for you?"

"I couldn't detect any obvious differences," she replied with a nod. "Hopefully the same will be true with Loki."

Thor frowned. "You will need to take greater care with my brother. Loki is not unfamiliar with sorcery and is unfortunately adept at manipulation, trickery and deceit."

Hermione felt her stomach lurch uneasily. There were not many people who knew Loki better than his brother. She knew how much Thor cared for Loki and he wouldn't make those sorts of accusations if he didn't know them to be true.

She took a deep breath and reached up to her earpiece. "Sir, I'm ready to proceed."

"Good," Fury responded. "Do you want any backup?"

"No," she answered. "I think that would either antagonise Loki more or make him think me weak."

"Understood. We'll be watching."

She set up the screen for Thor to watch and listen and left the door to the corridor unlocked just in case anything should go horrendously wrong.

"I wish you luck," he said.

"Thank you."

"See if you can get him to talk about the Chitauri," Thor suggested. "They are the army I suspect he plans to lead against your people."

Hermione nodded, grateful for this piece of additional information.

There was nothing wrong with being scared of Loki, she reassured herself, as she took the very short walk to his cell. And it was wise to be both aware and cautious of the consequences of exploring his mind. She tried to convince herself that Loki's eyes did not light up at the sight of her approaching his cell. There was no denying the smirk though.

He opened his mouth to speak but Hermione didn't give him the chance to say anything. "_Legilimens_," she called, locking her gaze on to Loki's. A whirlwind of thoughts and memories hurtled past her, far too fast for her to make any sense of them. She pushed the idea of the Chitauri at him and his mind started to respond, showing her images of a dark, shadowy world and strange alien people.

The scenery suddenly shifted to the majestic landscapes she'd viewed in Thor's memories. As stunning as Asgard was, viewing it now wasn't going to help her stop Loki. She sent out the idea of the Tesseract and though the scene stuttered slightly, she remained looking out at Thor's realm. She could see the bridge where the siblings had fought, although in this image it was still intact.

Hermione tried to manipulate his mind again, thinking of Agent Barton, Erik Selvig and iridium but nothing made an impact. He obviously had some experience of hiding his thoughts from others. She broke the spell.

Loki gazed back innocently. "Did you find anything of interest?" he enquired, the smirk twisting his features again. Hermione pursed her lips in frustration and Loki chuckled. "Has anyone ever told you that you're beautiful when you're angry?"

"Save it for someone who cares what you think," she bit back and his grin widened.

"Do I scare you, Agent Granger?" he whispered.

Hermione put her hand on her hip. "I've met people who were _infinitely_ scarier than you, Loki _Laufeyson_."

His eyes flashed angrily at her reference to his true parentage but he quickly masked his ire. "Really?" he replied, raising a curious eyebrow. "Do tell me of them."

"Well, for starters, there was my piano teacher," Hermione began, unable to keep a trace of sarcasm from her voice. "She would spontaneously burst out into song. Then there was the lollipop man outside of my school who would always tell a joke as you walked across the road. Oh, and the local librarian was an absolute stickler for silence between the shelves. All _terrifying_,and those were only the first three that jumped to mind."

Loki's eyes darkened menacingly but Hermione made herself stand tall. "Mockery will not fall so quickly from those lips soon," he promised softy, his fingertips tracing the outline of her mouth on the glass.

"We'll see," she replied airily and walked away from his cell without a backwards glance. However, once she'd turned out of sight from him, she leaned against the corridor and sucked in a deep breath to calm herself. Loki wasn't quite Voldemort, but his disregard for human life and desire to rule her entire world left him not far off in her eyes…

* * *

A/N Now, obviously, I have put the conversation between Loki and Thor in a slightly different place than in the film but I think it still works there.

Hermione irritates Tony with the song 'Barbie Girl' by Aqua, which I don't own at all (but it gets in your head really easily, believe me!).

Some of you might be frustrated that events in this fic follow the plotline of the film too closely. I've made the odd change here and there but I know from personal experience that if you mess things around too early in an AU/Crossover, you can leave yourself very stuck further down the line when nothing makes sense anymore. I intend for there to be a lot more of this series so, while I will have Hermione's presence influence the story, I'm not going to go crazy and start my own completely different Marvel Cinematic Universe. If that's too boring for you, then that's too bad.

For everyone else, thanks for your support! :)


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Sorry for the delay!

* * *

"What happened? Do you know what he's got planned?" Steve asked once Hermione and Thor had made their way up to the bridge. Most of the team had assembled around the table. Tony was still finishing some repairs to his suit but Hermione didn't know where Fury was.

She shook her head slightly in answer to Steve's question. "Loki's mind was too well protected. Once he'd recovered from my initial breach, he prevented me from exploring. The minutiae of his scheme are unknown to us but we think we're pretty sure of the end result." She nodded at Thor to take the lead.

"He has an army called the Chitauri," Thor explained gravely. "They're not of Asgard nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"The Chitauri were the only thought I could pursue in Loki's mind before he shut me out," Hermione added. "I couldn't see them clearly so I can't estimate their number, but they're there. They're waiting."

"An army, from outer space," Steve clarified. Hermione nodded and the others shared worried glances.

"So, he's building another portal," Bruce said, removing his glasses. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor repeated, looking surprised.

"He's an astrophysicist," Banner explained.

"He's a friend," Thor corrected.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell," Natasha informed him. "Along with one of ours." Hermione frowned at the melancholy in her friend's voice when she spoke of Agent Barton. Natasha obviously cared more about his welfare than she'd previously let on.

"I want to know why Loki let us take him," Steve announced, sharing a suspicion that Hermione had held for a while. "He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Bruce suggested. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him."

"Have care how you speak," Thor warned. "Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha pointed out.

Thor paused. "He's adopted."

"I think it's about the mechanics," Bruce announced, trying to ease the tension in the room. "Iridium. What do they need the iridium for?"

"It's a stabilising agent," Tony called, walking onto the bridge with Coulson. Tony was muttering something to him but Hermione couldn't quite hear what it was about. Coulson looked both pleased and a little embarrassed though. "It means the portal won't collapse upon itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D," Tony continued then he spotted Thor. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing," he said, lightly patting the Asgardian on the arm. He caught Hermione's eye. "I'm going to get you back for that song," he promised, before turning to the central controls of the ship. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants." He glanced around. "Er, raise the mizzen masts, jib the top sails," he joked, then suddenly pointed to the side. "That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

Hermione rolled her eyes at his antics. He just couldn't resist being the centre of attention.

Tony peered at the controls in confusion and covered his left eye. "How does Fury even see these?" he asked.

"He turns," Agent Hill answered.

"Sounds exhausting," he replied, then started examining what was on the screens. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high energy density. Something to…" he clicked his fingers, trying to think of the right word, "kick-start the cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermo-nuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked.

"Last night," Tony replied simply. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers?" Tony looked around in surprise at the mostly blank faces that were staring at him. "Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve cut in.

"He'd have to heat the Cube to one hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the coulomb barrier," Bruce pointed out.

Tony nodded in agreement. "Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect."

"Well, if he can do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet," Bruce said in an impressed tone of voice.

"Finally, someone who speaks English," Tony announced, holding his arm out to Bruce.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked, looking lost.

Hermione bent forwards while Tony introduced himself to Bruce. "I haven't got the first clue what they're talking about either," she whispered and he sent her a grateful smile.

"And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous, green, rage monster," Tony was saying.

Bruce looked as though he didn't really know what to make of that comment. "Thanks," he muttered.

"Dr Banner is only here to track the Cube," Fury called as he came onto the bridge, then turned to Tony. "I was hoping you might join him."

"I'd start with that stick of his," Steve suggested, before turning to her. "It doesn't have the magical variation of your wand, Hermione, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon."

"I don't know about that," Fury responded, "but it _is_ powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

Thor frowned. "Monkeys? I do not understand."

"I do!" Steve said with a grin, then seemed to realise that he might have overreacted slightly. "I understood that reference." Hermione gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"You've still got the spear?" Fury asked her and she nodded, patting her magically extended pocket. "Then it's time to see what we've got."

Tony met her eye and jerked his head before turning to Bruce. "Shall we play, Doctor?"

Bruce indicated the exit. "This way, sir." When Hermione had fallen into step next to them, he turned and said, "It'll be useful to see whether the spear matches the radiation you were giving off. Is it all right if I scan you again to see if your readings have changed?"

"Wait," Tony said before she could reply. "Granger actually let you do tests on her?"

"It's nothing personal, Tony," Hermione sighed before he got himself worked up. "We're talking about the fate of the entire world. Don't make everything about you."

"Oh, and here I thought that everything was about _you_, Little Miss Sorceress," Tony shot back.

Bruce looked between the two of them in alarm. "Er, I thought you two were friends."

"This is what friendship with Tony looks like," Hermione explained dryly. "Don't worry. He's just annoyed that I showed him up in front of the others by giving him a girly ringtone."

"You want to talk embarrassing ringtones?" Tony proposed irritably. "I've been giving your next one some thought. Don't worry; you're still going to be having AC/DC." Luckily for her, Tony missed the scornful look on her face. "But I've been thinking of something a little more hardcore. How about, 'Let's Get It Up' or 'Hard as a Rock'?" He definitely didn't miss Hermione's glare this time. "What? I think Loki would really dig those for you."

She shoved him lightly but it was enough to make him bump into the wall. "You're such a jerk," she muttered, trying to cover her embarrassment. Loki's supposed interest in her was the very last thing she wanted to talk about. She was almost certain that the Asgardian was putting it on to make her uncomfortable. Honestly, she thought Loki would much rather see her dead!

Bruce was looking between the two of them in confusion, obviously not sure whether they were still joking or not.

Tony looked back at her as though something had just dawned on him. "Granger, has anyone ever told you that you're beautiful when you're angry?" He smirked, obviously amused with himself for repeating Loki's earlier line. However, Tony looked less thrilled when he glanced down to see that the suit he'd been wearing was now a sparkly, pink mini dress, akin to something that Barbie might wear.

"Er, guys?" Bruce said. "Remember that alien army from the other side of space that we're trying to stop?"

Hermione smiled composedly at him and tucked her wand away again. "Of course, Dr Banner. Let's go."

"I was going to change out of my suit anyway!" Tony called after them as she and Bruce continued their walk to the lab.

Bruce glanced at her cautiously. "So, that was er…"

"Childish, yes, I know," Hermione replied with a frustrated sigh. "For some reason, Tony and I know exactly how to push each other's buttons."

"Well, I've only been in your combined company for about five minutes, but it's obvious that you care for each other too," Bruce said as they entered the lab. "Do you have any siblings?"

"No, I'm an only child," she answered and then her eyes widened. "Oh, you mean he's like the incredibly annoying older brother that I never had?"

Bruce chuckled. "It could be something like that."

Hermione pondered this as she retrieved the spear from her pocket. She had very much considered Harry and Ron to be like brothers when she was growing up at Hogwarts. But her relationship with Tony was very different from the ones in her adolescence. Harry and Ron had relied on her a lot in their time together and she didn't regret that assistance for one moment. But Tony didn't need her to look out for him at all. If anything, she was often having to play catch up to follow _his_ thought processes! His self-centred personality would drive her nuts sometimes but she knew that there were reasons for his attention seeking (even if he'd never shared them with her), and that, deep down, he was really a good person.

However, what she liked most about Bruce's theory, was that it meant that Tony had come to think of her as almost like his little sister. Why she found this idea so appealing, she couldn't quite put into words, but it made her feel inordinately happy inside and she returned the spear to its normal size with a goofy smile on her face.

A few minutes later, Tony entered the lab in rather more muted tones than his Barbie dress. Hermione smiled when she saw that he'd diplomatically decided to wear a Black Sabbath t-shirt.

"I'm sorry," she said and leant up quickly to kiss him on the cheek.

He peered at her in surprise. "Er, yeah, okay. Me too." He frowned. "You're a little crazy, d'you know that? Are you sure Loki didn't pass on a bit of his insanity when you read his mind?"

Hermione wrinkled her nose. "I certainly hope not."

Tony turned to Bruce. "We got anything yet?"

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Hermione's and the salvage reports of the Tesseract," Bruce answered, slowing moving his Geiger counter over Loki's spear. "But it's still going to take weeks to process."

Tony walked over to a screen that had already been logged into Stark Industries. "If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the H.O.M.E.R. cluster, we can clock this at around six hundred teraflops."

His words obviously made sense to Bruce because he chuckled and said, "All I packed was a tooth brush!"

"You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime," Tony suggested, walking over to Bruce and picking up a random instrument from the workbench. "Top ten floors are all R&amp;D. You'd love it. It's candyland."

"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I kind of broke… Harlem," Bruce admitted.

Hermione frowned. There was a glint in Tony's eye that she didn't quite trust.

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment," he reassured Bruce. "No tension, no surprises." Tony unexpectedly jabbed at Bruce with the object he'd been holding.

"Ow!"

Hermione's eyes widened in alarm. "And you think _I'm_ crazy?" She moved her hand to the rest against her wand as a precaution.

"Hey!" Steve called angrily, entering the lab while Tony peered into Bruce's eyes.

"Nothing?" Tony asked, almost sounding disappointed at the lack of fury Bruce was showing.

"Are you nuts?" Steve questioned.

"Jury's out," Tony replied nonchalantly before turning back to Bruce. Hermione moved her hand away from her wand, relieved that the Hulk wasn't about to make an appearance. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret: mellow jazz, bongo drums, giant bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked.

"Funny things are," Tony replied cockily.

"Threatening the safety of everyone aboard this ship isn't funny," Steve pointed out then turned slightly apologetically to Bruce. "No offence, Doc."

"It's all right," Bruce reassured calmly. "I wouldn't have come on board if I couldn't handle pointy things."

Tony frowned. "Did you know Granger has spied on you for S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"_Tony!_" Hermione gasped, glaring at him.

"She has this magic potion to disguise herself," he continued. "And she checked up on you all over Asia."

Hermione walked forwards, watching Bruce carefully. He was frowning but, thankfully, didn't look as though he was going to lose control. "I'm sorry for not telling you," she admitted to him. "I wasn't sure if knowing that would upset you." She shot Tony a withering look while Steve berated him again.

"Agent Romanoff already said that S.H.I.E.L.D. never lost me," Bruce told her. "If it had to be anyone, I'm glad it was you."

Tony clicked his tongue. "You're tip-toeing, big man," he said, putting down his tool and picking up a bag of food. "You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr Stark," Steve reminded him.

"Do you think I'm _not_?" Tony scoffed. "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us?" Hermione shifted uncomfortably. "I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked.

"He's a spy," Tony pointed out. "Captain, he's _the_ spy. His secrets have secrets. Right, Granger?"

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. "The Director is not about to reveal _everything_ he knows to you, otherwise he wouldn't be doing his job. I'm sure that he wouldn't hold back on anything that would help us."

"Uh-huh," Tony responded sounding less than convinced and dropped some food into his mouth. "It's bugging him too, isn't it?" he said, looking over at Bruce.

"Uhhh, I just want to finish my work here and…"

"Doctor?" Steve prompted.

Bruce glanced warily in Hermione's direction.

"You don't have to worry about Granger; she's not like the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. lackeys," Tony said. Hermione didn't know whether she should be pleased or annoyed by that statement.

Bruce thought for a moment then removed his glasses. " 'A warm light for all mankind.' Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube."

"I heard it," Steve said.

"Well, I think that was meant for you," Bruce claimed, pointing at Tony, who held out his pouch of food. Bruce helped himself and continued, "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the Tower, it was still all over the news."

"Stark Tower?" Steve deduced. "That big, ugly…" Hermione almost laughed at the put-out expression on Tony's face before Steve chose a polite way to finish that sentence, "building in New York?"

"It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source," Bruce explained. "That building will run itself for, what, a year?"

"It's just the prototype," Tony answered, munching on more food. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."

"So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Bruce questioned. "What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"Fury kept it from you too, didn't he?" Tony asked Hermione. Her pursed lips were enough of an answer for him. "Well, that makes total sense, doesn't it? Keep the only person capable of magic away from the magical object," he scoffed but then he shrugged. "No matter, we'll know why once my decryption programme finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files."

"What?!" Hermione asked in alarm.

"J.A.R.V.I.S has been running it since I hit the bridge," Tony explained calmly, showing them on his small screen. "In a few hours, I'll know every dirty little secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide." His smug mood dampened somewhat and he looked at Hermione. "Unless it's got your name in, of course."

"Is that because you didn't want to annoy me or because you can't undo the promise J.A.R.V.I.S made to me?" she asked suspiciously.

"We both know I don't mind annoying you," Tony replied matter-of-factly. "Blueberry?" he offered, holding out the bag.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around," Steve said dryly.

"An intelligence organisation that _fears_ intelligence?" Tony questioned. "Historically, not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up," Steve suggested, looking at them all in turn. "This is a man who means to start a war and, if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."

"Following's not really my style," Tony pointed out, eating another blueberry.

Steve stared at him. "And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room, which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit?" Tony asked mockingly, "and, B, not of use?"

"Steve," Bruce said, trying to avoid a fight. "Tell me none of this smells a little funky to you."

Steve looked between the two men slowly. "Just find the Cube," he muttered before turning and exiting the lab.

Hermione bit her lip, considering what to do. Tony's theory that Fury was hiding something important had unsettled her. She knew that she had no business being privy to all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets (especially when she shared so little about herself) but the fact that even Bruce thought that things didn't add up had seriously made her question what had been going on at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.

"You don't need me anymore, do you?" she asked Tony and Bruce, taking a step towards the exit.

Bruce shook his head. "I've already got your latest gamma readings."

"You're not going to run and tattle to Fury, are you?" Tony asked disapprovingly, making her pause.

"I should," she pointed out.

"But…" he prompted.

Hermione felt her lips twist into a frown. "But you could be right," she admitted then hardened her tone. "Either way, any information you come across that doesn't have to do with the Tesseract, must not leave this room. If you go around blabbing international secrets, I will do a lot worse to you than make you wear a dress."

"Sounds fair to me," Bruce said with a chuckle.

"You and Rogers are such a couple of killjoys," Tony muttered, turning back to his work. Hermione took that as a verbal confirmation that he'd be discreet about whatever he uncovered and walked quickly out of the exit.

She caught sight of Steve's uniform further along the corridor and trotted after him. He glanced over at her when she fell into step next to him.

"I'm, er, sorry about Tony," she said quietly.

Steve shook his head. "You shouldn't apologise for him," he replied. "His egotism has got nothing to do with you."

"True," Hermione admitted with a small nod. "But if it makes you feel any better, he speaks to practically everyone that way."

"I've noticed," he responded dryly. "And that doesn't excuse it."

"Of course not," Hermione agreed, "which is why I send a little spell his way every now and then to try and deflate his head a bit! When this is all over, I'll let you pick one if you like. I've got a variety of jinxes in mind that I know he really won't appreciate."

He let out a small breath of laughter and his lips turned upwards slightly. "Thanks. I may well take you up on that offer."

Why she was going out of her way to try and comfort Steve, she really had no idea. Tony didn't get on with many people but the tension between him and Steve was particularly noticeable. She assumed that it was because they were pretty much polar opposites in terms of their personalities. Perhaps she wanted to protect Steve because she'd seen how vulnerable he could be when faced with something from the twenty-first century? Or maybe she could identify with someone else who liked to follow the rules? It could be down to the fact that he was pretty much the only person in the world that she wasn't lying to. Whatever the reason, she wasn't about to stop anytime soon.

"I'm going to talk to Coulson," she told him quietly and he paused.

"You think he'll tell you anything?" Steve asked, sounding surprised.

"Not if he's been told not to," she admitted. "But I still want to ask. Tony might be a jerk but he's not normally paranoid."

He seemed to consider her words. "I'll distract the Director for you."

Hermione shook her head. "You don't have to do that. It's hardly suspicious for me to talk to Coulson about the Tesseract. Unfortunately, my reputation as being someone who likes to discover all the answers is relatively well-known within S.H.I.E.L.D."

"All right," he replied. "Let me know what you find out. I've a mind to do a little investigating of my own."

She nodded and parted ways with him, walking back to the bridge. Coulson was talking with another agent as they looked at something on a computer screen. He saw her coming and broke off his conversation.

"Is everything okay?" he asked in concern.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, it's fine. Tony and Bruce have got everything set up. They're in scientific-genius mode at the moment and I barely understand a word they're saying."

He laughed. "Join the club."

"Did you get Steve to sign your trading cards?" she asked with a grin, knowing how much he treasured his collection.

"Not yet, but he said he would," Coulson replied, obviously very pleased.

Hermione took a long look around the bridge. "Can you believe this is actually happening?" she questioned wonderingly with a small shake of her head.

Coulson shrugged. "It's not that surprising given the last year we've had. We knew something like this was coming, we just didn't know when."

She supposed that was true. The escalation of events in the muggle world and the arrival of an alien being were the reasons she'd become involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. She tapped on one of the screens near her and brought up an image of the Tesseract.

"Who'd have thought this little cube would be so much trouble?" she said quietly.

"You know as well as I do what happened the last time someone tried to control the Tesseract," Coulson reminded her, clearly referring to Schimdt's work with Hydra during the Second World War.

Hermione glanced over at him. "Then why were S.H.I.E.L.D. experimenting on it? Sounds like a pretty risky venture to me."

Coulson nodded. "But unlimited power is going to be desperately needed soon," he pointed out. "This planet's resources are drying up. Can you imagine the chaos that would occur if we had no energy?"

"I wish I could read about it," she sighed. "I can't find information on Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S anywhere."

He looked at her in puzzlement. "You're interested in self-sustaining energy?"

"Not quite," she admitted. "The Tesseract is the closest thing we've come across that's similar to my magic so that's where my interest lies. I wonder why Fury kept it from me?" she let the question hang in the air between them and watched his reaction.

"Hermione, as incredible as you are, even _you_ cannot be a part of everything," Coulson said gently.

Evasion. Pure and Simple.

The Tesseract was dangerous and the fact that Coulson wouldn't be honest about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s work with it seriously worried her.

"No, I suppose not," Hermione agreed mildly. She wasn't angry at Phil (she couldn't be when there was so much that she was hiding from him!) but she couldn't help feeling frustrated.

"I'll see if I can find anything else on the Tesseract for you," he offered with a smile, obviously sensing her disappointment. "God forbid Hermione Granger doesn't have some answers to her questions."

"Thanks," she replied, somewhat suspicious of his motives but doing her best to hide it.

"Go get some rest," he suggested, patting her lightly on the back. "I'll have something ready for you when you wake."

"All right," she agreed. "Thank you, Coulson."

Hermione managed to keep the frown off of her face until she exited the bridge. It was pretty obvious that he'd tried to fob her off for a few hours until he could make a fake report.

She walked in the direction of the sleeping quarters but didn't stop at her own. There was no way she would be able to rest while these accusations were hanging over her head.

Steve quickly answered her knock on his door.

"Let's go investigate S.H.I.E.L.D."

* * *

A/N Did you spot the tiny Guardians of the Galaxy reference at the beginning of the chapter? I love that film so much that I couldn't resist!

We're moving forward! Nothing ground breaking this time but things will be heating up soon.

Until next time!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Sorry for the sucky lack of updating! You guys, on the other hand, are awesome! :)

* * *

Steve waved his camouflaged hand in front of his face, watching as the colours changed with the background. Hermione's spell was very useful. There were times when a red, white and blue suit wasn't really appropriate, and moving around S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier to look for something they might be hiding, was definitely one.

They had used Hermione's security clearance to get deeper into the bowels of the boat, having identified a number of rooms from the ship's schematics that they wanted to investigate. They had no idea what they were looking for or if they would even find anything, but it felt better to do something than sit around waiting for Stark's computer virus to break into those files.

"Ready?" Hermione asked. She was camouflaged too – or _disillusioned_ as she called it. He couldn't really see her properly, except for her eyes.

They'd stopped outside the first of the secure storage rooms. If they were going to find anything at all, this was the most logical place for it to be.

He nodded and she slotted her small hand into his, before disapparating them to the other side of the door. It was quite a large room, set on two floors.

"You search down here," he instructed quietly. The storage area appeared to be deserted but it was better to be careful. "I'll go up."

Steve leapt up to easily pull himself onto the walkway of the upper level. As you'd expect of a storage area, there were a lot of boxes and containers for them to look through.

After a few minutes of unsuccessful searching, they reconvened at the door to the next storage room. They landed with a small pop but Steve immediately pulled her down behind a couple of large metallic boxes.

"Did you hear that?" a voice called.

Hermione's eyes were wide as they stared into his. Steve was pretty sure that as long as they stayed still, it would be almost impossible for them to be discovered and even if they were, they'd only be at risk of a reprimand from Fury. However, that didn't stop his pulse from racing. He was tucked so closely into Hermione that he could feel her heart beating into his shoulder too and her quick breaths tickling against his neck. Steve couldn't remember the last time he'd been this close to someone. He couldn't see it, of course, but he could feel a lock of her hair resting against his cheek and he fought a bizarre urge to reach out and tuck it behind her ear.

They heard the sound of footsteps approaching their location and Steve closed his eyes so they wouldn't give him away. He sensed a beam of light being shone over them but there was no cry of alarm.

"You're hearing things," another voice grumbled and the footsteps receded.

He and Hermione remained still while they waited for the room to be completely vacated. Steve risked a glance back at her eyes and saw that the fear had faded from them. He realised with a wrench in his gut just how alone he felt in this century. He'd give his right arm for Bucky, Howard, Dum Dum, the rest of the Howling Commandos or even Colonel Phillips to be here with him. Not that it was a fate he'd truly wish on any of them.

Sure, he'd made acquaintances here but he wouldn't exactly count anyone aboard this ship as a friend. Hermione would probably be the closest but she was such a mystery that he didn't really have a clue where he stood with her yet.

The problem with getting closer to Hermione was that she reminded him so much of Peggy, and she was the person he missed most of all. There were the obvious similarities, such as their country of origin and ability to thrive in a male-led profession. And they were both incredibly brave and intelligent, capable of great kindness but also had a streak of rebellion. The way Hermione had confided in him about her falsehoods showed that she had put great trust in him like Peggy had always done…

Thanks to Hermione's report a couple of days ago, he knew that Peggy was still alive. She had married and raised a family. Steve was happy for her, truly he was, but that didn't stop it from hurting when he pictured what their lives might have been like together.

He was strangely thankful that he had a mad Norse god hell-bent on world domination to serve as a distraction from his personal feelings.

Hermione pulled herself away from him and he wished he didn't mourn the loss of body contact.

It was in the third storage area that they found them.

"What are they?" Hermione asked, somehow sensing the dark mood Steve was giving off as he stared down at the containers' contents. She bent forward for a closer look and then gasped, turning to him with confused eyes. "Hydra weapons! But…why?"

"Hydra used the energy of the Tesseract to power their weaponry," Steve stated, still disbelieving that his old adversary was here to haunt him. "They were incredibly powerful."

He heard Hermione take a calming breath next to him. "So you think S.H.I.E.L.D. are developing that same technology?"

"If they are, would they try to cover it up?" he asked, wanting to be proved wrong.

"I have a condition in my business contract with Tony that nothing we create be considered a weapon," she replied grimly. "When you've been through a war, the last thing you want is to pave the way for more bloodshed. Fury and the others know killing someone isn't exactly part of my skills set. There's no way that S.H.I.E.L.D. would let me know about this and I don't think Bruce or Tony will be too pleased either."

Steve nodded. He picked up one of the weapons even though the mere sight of it made him feel sick. "It's time we asked Fury a few questions."

* * *

Hermione followed in Steve's wake. She could tell how upset he was about their discovery. He was so determined to get answers that he simply pulled the locked doors aside instead of waiting for her to apparate them. He wouldn't even pause to let her remove the disillusionment charm and she had to make a flying leap to tap him on the head.

They had assumed that Fury would be on the bridge but they saw him go into the lab to speak with Tony and Bruce.

"What _is_ Phase 2?" they heard Tony ask as they re-entered the room.

Steve dropped the large weapon onto the counter with a clang, attracting everyone's attention. "Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Cube to make weapons," he stated, before turning to Tony. "Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for us."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract," Fury explained walking forwards. "This does not mean that we're making – "

"I'm sorry, Nick," Tony interrupted, turning the screen round to face them "What were you lying?"

Hermione moved forwards to inspect the screen. From what she could see, the technology displayed on there wasn't for a relatively simple hand held weapon like the old ones she and Steve had found. It looked more like a high powered bomb; the sort that could wipe out an entire city.

"I was wrong, Director," Steve said. "The world hasn't changed a bit."

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked and Hermione turned to declare her innocence but she saw that he was talking to Natasha, who had just entered with Thor.

Natasha looked warily at Bruce. "You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?"

Bruce laughed ironically. "I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."

"Loki is manipulating you," Natasha said in a calm voice.

"And you've been doing what, exactly?" Bruce pointed out.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," she countered.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Bruce walked over to the screen. "I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

There was a pause as everyone waited for Fury to answer.

"Because of him," he said eventually, pointing at Thor.

"Me?" Thor said, looking somewhat surprised.

"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet, who had a grudge match that levelled a small town," Fury explained. "We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously outgunned." Fury's gaze landed on Hermione as he finished. She wondered if he was appealing to her to back him up, to defend his cause, given that Kingsley had shared the same concern. But she couldn't justify the potential harm these weapons could do. She stayed silent.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor objected.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" Fury countered. "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled." It was only for the briefest of moments but Hermione saw Fury glance in her direction again and a sickening feeling pooled in her stomach. He was talking about magic!

All this time she had assumed that Fury was happy for her to act as liaison; to be the bridge between the two worlds. She'd thought that with her as a willing member of S.H.I.E.L.D., he wouldn't consider the magical community to be much of a threat. And now that Voldemort was gone, they really weren't! But, she realised, what proof did Fury have apart from her word?

He trusted _her_. She had to believe that, otherwise she couldn't understand why he would involve her so heavily in S.H.I.E.L.D. But for all the things Fury knew she was capable of, he was aware that there were plenty of others who could do just the same (and there were far more magical people than he even knew about!). She could see that from his view, all it would take was another witch or wizard to go bad and there could be havoc on the planet and not all that much S.H.I.E.L.D. could do to stop it. If it came to that, she knew that Nick Fury was the sort of man who would make a hard decision in order to save lives. He'd made that very clear from their first meeting.

She realised that she'd missed what people were saying. As terrifying as Fury's last resort to a magical war was, for now, Loki was the imminent threat.

"You forced our hand," Fury was saying to Thor. "We had to come up with someth – "

"A nuclear deterrent," Tony interrupted before adding dryly, "Because that always calms everything right down."

Fury turned to him in annoyance, "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

Steve stepped forward. "I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep – "

"W-wait, hold on, how is this now about me?" Tony asked.

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve retorted.

"This is ridiculous," Hermione muttered, though no one paid any attention to her.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor said somewhat pompously, causing Fury to turn on him.

"_Excuse me_, did we come to _your_ planet and blow stuff up?"

"You treat your champions with such mistrust," Thor accused.

Hermione closed her eyes and rubbed one hand across her forehead. She was beginning to get a serious headache.

"They're not my champions!" Fury denied.

"Are you boys that naïve?" Natasha chipped in. "S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats."

"Captain America's on threat watch?" Bruce asked in surprise.

"We all are," she replied.

"Wait, you're on that list?" Hermione heard Tony ask Steve as other arguments continued in the room. "Are you above or below angry bees?"

Hermione slowly inched her wand from her pocket, still keeping her eyes closed.

"Stark, so help me God," Steve said agitatedly, "if you make one more wisecrack– "

"Threat, verbal threat!" Tony cried. "I feel threatened!"

And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Hermione opened her eyes and quickly jabbed her wand at the various occupants of the room, rendering each of them silent in turn. She avoided casting the charm at Bruce but he too stopped talking once he realised what was happening to the others.

A number of angry eyes looked in her direction. Should she feel bad for using magic on muggles? Probably. But not when they were behaving so childishly.

"Your bickering is getting us nowhere," she said calmly. "You said it yourself, Steve. Loki is trying to wind us up and it's working. How can we function as a team when we're at each other's throats?"

"A team?" Bruce repeated derisively. "No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're, we're a time bomb."

Hermione swallowed nervously. She had to calm him down. "Bruce, do you remember washing your clothes in the stream outside Mumbai?" she asked. He stared at her. "Do you remember Sakina?"

"Sakina," he repeated gently and familiarity shone in his eyes. "That – that was _you_?"

She nodded. "I hate to break it to you but that technique I showed you for slapping your clothes against the rocks, definitely wasn't the most tried and tested method."

His lips pulled into a smile. "You shared your lunch with me," he recalled. "That was some good roti bread."

"Yes," she agreed. "It was so beautiful beside the stream that I stayed there for an hour even after you left."

Bruce let out a long breath and nodded at her. "Thank you," he said softly.

Someone jabbed hard at her back and she turned with a glare, easily identifying Tony as the guilty culprit. He donned a face of innocence and pointed at Steve, who shoved his arm away in irritation.

"You're not going to bicker with one another, are you?" she asked, looking around at Fury, Thor and Natasha too. The looks they sent her way quite clearly conveyed their lack of amusement at her silencing spell but she reversed the charm before they got too angry with her.

"I hate that spell," Tony muttered.

"You prefer the one where I make you wear a little pink dress?" Hermione asked teasingly.

"_What?_" Steve and Natasha looked over at Tony in delighted surprise.

Tony glared at her. "Low blow."

"Then don't jab me in the back."

Fury approached Bruce. "Doctor, I think it best if you leave."

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked, placing a hand on Steve's shoulder.

"You know damn well why," he replied testily, pushing Tony's arm away again. "Back off."

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony said lowly.

Hermione tightened her grip on her wand, ready to silence him again but someone grabbed her wrist. She turned and saw Natasha shake her head slowly, silently telling her to let them be.

"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armour," Steve said circling round Tony. "Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," Tony replied without missing a beat.

"I know guys with _none_ of that worth _ten_ of you," Steve stated while Tony stared impassively back at him. "I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire," Tony replied mockingly.

Steve smiled and glanced at the others. "Always a way out," he muttered before his gaze hardened again. "You know you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you?" Tony retorted. "You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything _special_ about you came out of a _bottle_."

Hermione desperately wanted to say something, to protect her friends from each other but she knew Natasha was right. They needed to voice their differences if they were ever going to get past them. Not to mention that a small part of her knew that some of the accusations Steve had made about Tony were painfully accurate.

"Put on the suit," Steve suggested darkly. "Let's go a few rounds."

A deep chuckle broke the moment. "You people are so petty," Thor laughed. "And tiny."

"Yeah, this is a team!" Bruce scoffed.

"Agent Romanoff," Fury began. "Will you escort Dr Banner back to his –"

"Where?" Bruce interrupted. "You rented my room."

Fury shook his head slightly. "The cell was just in case –"

"In case you needed to kill me! But you can't. I know, I tried!" Bruce announced and Hermione felt her heart ache for him. She hadn't realised quite how bad things had been for Bruce. "I got low," he explained. "I didn't see an end. So, I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good. Until you _dragged_ me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk." As the level of anger in Bruce's voice rose, Hermione raised her wand in readiness. She watched in alarm as he reached behind him and picked up Loki's spear. "You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?"

"Dr Banner," Steve called and Bruce glanced over at him. "Put down the sceptre."

Bruce looked down at his hand, seemingly surprised to see the weapon there. Everyone held their breath to see what he would do. When he raised his eyes, Hermione hoped she could see the anger dissipating.

A series of electronic beeps made them all turn. It was coming from the device that was searching for the Tesseract.

"Got it," Tony said as Bruce thankfully put the spear on the workbench.

"Sorry, kids," he muttered, walking over to the screen. "You don't get to see my party trick after all."

"You located the Tesseract?" Fury asked.

"I'm on my way," Tony said, turning to leave.

"Wait," Hermione called. "All of us should go."

"You're not going alone." Steve reached out a hand to stop him but Tony shrugged him off.

"You going to stop me?" Tony asked angrily.

"Put on the suit, let's find out," Steve retorted as Hermione put herself between them.

"Just stop it, both of you," she said, trying to push them apart.

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man," Tony warned, ignoring her.

"Put on the suit," Steve repeated lowly.

Hermione shot a few sparks out of the end of her wand and they took a couple of steps backwards in surprise.

"Oh, my God…" Bruce breathed and Hermione looked over in concern. Whatever he'd seen on the screen couldn't be good.

A sudden explosion threw everyone to the floor as glass and equipment smashed all around them. The air was forced from her body by the impact of the fall but Hermione felt herself pulled to her feet by Steve.

"Put on the suit," he said to Tony, a note of urgency in his voice.

"Yep," Tony agreed, staggering from the lab, Steve right behind.

Hermione whirled around to take in the scene but it was almost impossible with all the smoke. She helped Fury to his feet then looked to him for instructions. "Sir?"

"Loki," was all he gasped in response. Hermione nodded and started running for the holding cell. She couldn't risk apparating around the ship when they were under attack from unknown forces.

"Hill?" she heard Fury ask, wanting a status update.

"External detonation," Hill's voice spoke in her ear. "Number three engine is down." Things could be a lot worse, Hermione reasoned as she descended a set of stairs. The helicarrier had four engines after all. Of course, if another one lost power then it was a different story. "Somebody's gotta get outside and patch that engine," Hill instructed.

"Stark you copy that?" Fury's voice commanded and Hermione heard a positive response in her ear. "Coulson initiate defensive lockdown in the detention section," Fury ordered. "Granger's already on her way, then get to the armoury. Romanoff?"

"We're okay," said Natasha's voice but it sounded strained to Hermione's ear.

She was a few metres away from the entrance to Loki's cell when she heard the roar. She skidded to a halt. "Code Green, Granger," came Natasha's panicked whisper and there was another guttural roar, this time enhanced by the earpiece.

"Where are you?" she replied urgently, turning away from Loki. The Hulk was now the biggest threat on board the helicarrier.

"Just beneath the lab!" Natasha yelled, a series of clangs and grunts echoing in the background. Disregarding her earlier caution, Hermione apparated to the corresponding spot and quickly bent down to pick up one of the pieces of glass that littered the floor. She sprinted towards the loud roars and bangs, hoping that she wasn't too late to protect Natasha from the Hulk's fury.

"Bruce!" she yelled, trying to attract his attention and a large metal grille flew through the air at her head and she managed to raise a shield just in time for it to rebound. He burst out at her and she reacted instinctively. "_Immobulus!" _she cried, forcing as much energy behind the spell as she could. Blue light flashed around them. The momentum he was travelling with made him tumble to the ground and Hermione threw herself out of the way. Once he'd ground to a halt, Hermione scampered over to him but kept a wary distance. Although his limbs were frozen in place, she could see the fury still raging in his eyes.

"Sir, permission to transport the Hulk off the ship?" she asked.

"Granted," came the terse reply.

Hermione balanced the piece of glass on the huge green shoulder. "I'll join you soon," she promised. "Don't panic."

Hermione tapped the glass with her wand and focused on the destination she had in mind, activating the glass as a portkey. She stood back as the huge form of the Hulk vanished in a swirl of wind.

"Where have you sent him?" a voice asked over her shoulder. She turned in surprise but relaxed when she saw it was Thor.

"Somewhere reasonably remote," she replied. "But I'll have to follow him to make sure he's safe." Thor nodded. "Can you watch Loki? That's where I was supposed to be."

His face darkened. "Of course. I wish you luck." He held out his hand and started walking towards the exit.

"And you!" she called after him, before ducking out of the way as his hammer whizzed past. "Natasha, are you all right?" she called, turning to look for her friend.

"I'll be fine," came the pained reply in her ear. "Go check on Banner. But be quick, I think we'll still need you back here."

"Stay safe," Hermione said, then disapparated.

The contrast in light on the rocky banks of the reservoir forced Hermione to shield her eyes for a moment. Green Mountain National Forest looked as beautiful and tranquil as you'd expect, except for the furious Hulk that was charging in her direction.

"_Depulso_!"she yelled, forcing him to be flung backwards. Unsurprisingly, this only enraged him more and he let out an ear-splitting roar that shocked a number of birds from the trees.

Hermione thought quickly. She needed to get him to become Bruce again as soon as possible so that she could get back to the base. She knew that normally he would transform once the anger had been sated but she didn't have time to wait for that to happen, especially if her magic only riled him even more. The alternative was that she oust the Hulk from his mind by forcing him into unconsciousness. Given how quickly her freezing charm had worn off on him, she doubted that a simple stunning spell would do the trick.

The Hulk scooped a handful of large rocks from the water's edge and flung them at her. Hermione apparated a few yards to the side, avoiding them easily.

"_Depulso_!"she cried again, but with a more focused direction to the spell. She forced his enormous form into the reservoir and backed up the banishing charm with a non-verbal _Deprimo_ to maintain downwards pressure and keep him under the water. She could no longer see his body but from the way the water churned she knew he was still fighting the magic. Her hand shook as she enforced the spell, hating herself for having to put Bruce through this.

The surface of the reservoir became smooth and Hermione hesitated. _No_, said a voice in her head. _Don't stop. Force him deeper and deeper until he'll never rise again…_

* * *

A/N Hopefully a much quicker update next time! Thanks for all your support!

Lil Drop of Magic


	7. Chapter 7

A/N See! A relatively quick update. You're welcome. :)

A couple of people mentioned about using a cheering charm to stop the Hulk. I didn't use that for a couple of reasons. First, Hermione's never encountered the Hulk before and they're hundreds of feet in the air whilst under attack. As she doesn't know how Hulk is going to react to her spells, her priority is getting him off the helicarrier before he damages himself, others or the ship. She wouldn't use a cheering charm at such a critical moment when she doesn't know if it's going to work or not. Secondly, I think a cheering charm is just too easy a solution. Besides, I always viewed it more as Hulk needing to calm down, not cheer up, so to me that spell isn't quite fit for purpose.

Anyway, thanks for your continued support!

* * *

The surface of the reservoir became smooth and Hermione hesitated. _No_, said a voice in her head. _Don't stop. Force him deeper and deeper until he'll never rise again… _

Hermione cancelled the spell at once, horrified that she would think like that for even a moment. She ran to the water's edge, casting a bubblehead charm as she went, before rushing into the icy water. Lighting her wand to the maximum brightness, she submerged herself and started to look for Bruce or the Hulk, she didn't mind which at that time.

Hermione glimpsed something pale a few feet away and swam over to it as quickly as she could. It was Bruce alright, but he wasn't looking particularly alive. She grabbed his arm and used her magic to first of all raise them to the surface then propel them to shore.

"_A-anapneo_," she stuttered, her body trembling from the shock and the cold. To her eternal relief, Bruce's chest rose and his eyes flew open. She stepped back as he rolled over, coughing and spluttering. "Thank God," she breathed, holding a shaking hand to her head. "Bruce, I'm so sorry! I don't know –"

"Do you happen to have a spell that makes pants?" he rasped over his shoulder and it was only then that she noticed how devoid of clothing he was.

"Oh!" Hermione replied. "Give me a minute." She turned around to make them both more comfortable and unzipped her jacket. She severed the long sleeves and spelled them into a pair of trousers that she hoped would fit him. Then she removed her slightly drier t-shirt and expanded it until it was a more suitable size for him. "Here," she said, passing the garments to Bruce after donning her much depleted jacket.

"Thanks," he muttered and she turned away while he dressed. "You were right about me not having to worry about your safety when I'm with you," he commented. His tone was far lighter than Hermione thought she deserved. "It makes a nice change."

"Y-you're not angry with me?" she asked in surprise, not wanting to look at him for a different reason now. "I nearly killed you!"

"Right. _Nearly_," Bruce emphasised, coming to stand next to her and she forced herself to meet his gaze. She could see for herself that his eyes were anger free. They even looked kind. "You said you'd never hurt me and, apart from a slightly sore throat, that's exactly what happened. More importantly, you stopped _me_ from hurting anyone else," he pointed out. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she replied, still slightly unsettled by what had happened. "I, er, need to get back to base."

Bruce nodded. "Go. I'll be fine."

"There's a ski resort about four kilometres over those hills," she told him, feeling guilty at the idea of abandoning him in the middle of Vermont. "It's not peak season but there's bound to be someone who can lend you a hand. When we've got the helicarrier sorted, I can come back and find you," she offered.

"Thanks, but I don't think that's a great idea," he replied, shaking his head. "We've found the Tesseract. I don't see what further use I'd be up there."

"Where is it?" she asked, remembering that the attack had prevented the location from being shared.

"New York," he said gravely and she felt dread fill her stomach at the implications. "It appeared to be journeying into Manhattan."

"Great," she muttered sarcastically. "So, I guess I'll see you there." She fixed her gaze on Bruce, daring him to back away from ending Loki's scheme.

He nodded. "I'll be rather hard to miss, though it might take me a little while to get there."

She grinned and squeezed his hand affectionately. After bidding Bruce a quick goodbye, she focused her attentions on how she was to return to the helicarrier. If it was stationary, that wouldn't be a problem, but while it was under attack it was unlikely to be employing a steady flight path. That would make portkeys and direct apparation a little difficult and rather dangerous. She'd checked the ships coordinates before she'd left and kept them in mind when she disapparated.

Hermione had known that she would reappear in thin air but it was still rather disconcerting to feel yourself plummeting to the ground. She looked around, struggling to see any sign of the boat. She'd purposefully apparated to a spot that would be above it but they were obviously having more engine trouble than she'd anticipated. She hadn't anticipated the cloudy sky and it really wasn't making things any easier either. Something glinted, reflecting the sunlight and she felt a jolt of hope until she saw that it was just the water below. Another reflection twinkled below to her left and this time she could see the helicarrier, black smoke still curling up from one of the turbines. Hermione angled her body to fall in its direction and when she got closer, she changed into her animagus form; the merlin falcon.

Truth be told, this altitude was a little too high for her to be completely comfortable with but she knew it was only for a short while. She beat her wings and glided on the wind, desperate to get back on board. As Hermione got closer, she could see that the ship was severely listing to one side. She swooped down to gently land on deck and immediately transformed herself back into a human. "Sir, Granger here; where do you need me?" The ship shuddered and she looked around in alarm but it was merely a slowing down of their descent as one of the faulty engines started running again.

"Holding cell. Meet me there," Fury ordered. "Just be careful, we're blind down here."

"Yes, sir." Once again, Hermione raced through the ship, hurrying to that dreaded cell. There were signs of devastation everywhere and she had to jump over more than one (hopefully, merely unconscious) lifeless figure.

"Granger, get here quick!" Fury barked in her ear and Hermione's mind whirled with what could have made the Director sound so agitated.

When she entered the holding area a few seconds later, she wasn't prepared for the sight that met her eyes; Coulson was dying.

"_No!"_ she cried, throwing herself to her knees and clutching his hand, while Fury tried to keep him alert. "W-what happened? Where are you hurt?" She ran a diagnostic spell to assess his injuries. "Oh God," she gasped when the results showed up – something had pierced right through Coulson's chest and his heart was near enough torn in two. It was a miracle he was even still alive.

There was only one spell that she knew of that stood a chance of saving him. She tightened her grip on her wand. She could do this, she could save him.

"H-herm-ione," Coulson panted. "He said he… he had a surprise for you."

"Don't talk to me, Coulson, I'm trying to save you here," she whispered frantically, pushing his words out of her mind. "Talk to the Director."

After a quick moistening of her lips, she opened her mouth to begin reciting the incantation.

Her eyes widened in alarm. She couldn't remember the words!

She'd _never_ forgotten the words to a spell before. How could it happen at such a critical moment?! Panic stricken, she cast her mind around for the words that had just been on the tip of her tongue before vanishing from her memory.

She could hear Coulson talking to Fury, giving her hope that all wasn't lost.

_Valnera Sanentur._ The words returned with a flash and sharp pain in her head and she refocused on Coulson's wounds.

"_V-valnera Sanentur_," she chanted, slowly waving her wand over his chest. She took a steady breath, ready to repeat the words as required for the spell to work, and a small wave of relief started to creep across her chest. Fury laid a hand on her shoulder and she almost faltered. Why would he do that when she was in the middle of such an important spell?

"_Valnera Sanentur_," she repeated.

"Granger," the Director said, the tone of his voice distracting Hermione enough for her to spare him a glance. The mournful look in his eyes instantly stopped the spreading relief and her blood chilled.

"But," she began to say, then she turned to look at Coulson face and she saw the awful truth in his unseeing eyes.

She was too late.

* * *

Having someone cry themselves to sleep on his shoulder was a completely alien experience for Tony. It was not one that he wanted to repeat. Ever.

Granger had been damn near hysterical following Coulson's death. Her eyes had already been bloodshot and puffy when Tony had accidentally come across her halfway up a flight of stairs. Upon seeing him, she practically tackled him and commenced the shoulder-sobbing. All of his snarky comments about personal boundaries and ruining his clothes with her snotty tears remained firmly on the tip of his tongue for once.

Through her cries, he just about managed to surmise that she considered Coulson's death to be her fault. Quite how she'd come to that conclusion, Tony couldn't be sure, because he'd been reliably informed that the agent had been stabbed by Loki. And, what was more, Granger had done all she could to try and save him. He'd tried to tell her this but it'd only made her sob harder.

After a few minutes, she'd begun to quieten and Tony had thanked his lucky stars that the awkward moment was about to be over. However, when she made no move to push herself away, he glanced down, and from the small part of her face that he could see, realised the truth.

In his chest, he'd felt a pang of something, but he didn't know what it was, nor did he have any desire to explore that feeling. He scooped Granger into his arms. As a self-declared genius, Tony knew the calculations behind the amount of work he would require to lift someone of her stature, but the lightness of her frame still took him by surprise. He determined that she couldn't have been eating properly, and the fact that she'd fallen asleep on his shoulder showed how exhausted the poor kid was.

Things were still hectic enough on the helicarrier that nobody had paid Tony any attention as he'd carried Granger back to the sleeping area. Once he'd laid her on the bed, he'd voiced a ship-wide threat to throw anyone who disturbed her overboard.

This warning hadn't applied to himself, of course, which was why he was happy to bang on her door and wake her up an hour later, with Rogers in tow, to tell her that he'd figured out where the Tesseract was headed. He _hadn't_ been thrilled to find out that she'd known about New York already but he'd somehow managed to push that irritation aside in the wake of her recent emotional vulnerability.

Granger had gone with Rogers to seek out Romanoff, while Tony had made some emergency repairs to his suit so that he could at least get himself back to Stark Tower. Within twenty minutes, they had all left the helicarrier along with a recently Loki-free Hawkeye.

Tony wouldn't exactly call the journey smooth but at least he made it to Manhattan and Stark Tower in one piece.

"Selvig's set up shop on the roof," he told Granger, glancing over the machine and various cables that were attached to the Tesseract.

"Understood," came the response in his ear. They had agreed that it would be safest to team up. That's what this whole 'Avengers' thing was supposed to be all about, after all. She had been a passenger on the jet that Hawkeye was flying but a second later he saw her materialise next to Selvig, who didn't seem overly surprised to see her there.

"Sir, I've turned off the arc reactor but the device is already self-sustaining," J.A.R.V.I.S. announced. Granger set him a worried glance and pointed her wand at Selvig.

"If that's true then there's nothing I can do to stop the Cube now," Granger told him disconsolately. "Its energy and my magic really don't get on."

That wasn't good news. "Shut it down, Dr Selvig," Tony called, causing the astrophysicist to turn towards him.

"It's too late!" Selvig shouted happily. "She can't stop now. She wants to show us something," he walked towards the Tesseract, a mixture of awe and ecstasy on his face. "A new universe."

"OK," Tony muttered sarcastically, not in the mood for Selvig's blue-eyed wonderment. He'd just have to shut it down himself. He raised his arms, palms facing the Tesseract.

"_No!_" Granger cried at him desperately, but it was too late to stop the blasts coming from his suit. A large, almost transparent sphere appeared for a second, protecting the Cube and then a huge wave of energy surged from it, forcing Tony to somersault backwards in mid-air. He looked back at the Tesseract but was unsurprised to see that it remained unaffected.

"The barrier is pure energy," J.A.R.V.I.S. commented. "It's unbreachable."

"Yeah, I got that."

Tony spotted Selvig, unconscious on the floor but there was no sign of Granger. He called her name and flew around the roof. She hadn't been blasted over the edge, had she?

A moment later, relief swept through him when a small, dark falcon soared up from the below with what Tony would definitely describe as an angry cry. Granger landed back on the roof and transformed into her human form, complete with scowl.

Tony held his hands up apologetically. "At least we now know that's not an option."

"Definitely," she agreed.

"And we've managed to catch the attention of your not-so-secret admirer," Tony said, noticing Loki slightly further below them on the balcony. "Ready for a Plan B?"

Her eyes darkened at the mention of the Asgardian and she nodded stiffly. "I'll fill in the others then I'll be right down."

"Sir, the Mark VII is not ready for deployment," J.A.R.V.I.S. warned as Tony lowered himself to his special landing platform.

"Then skip the spinning rims," he instructed, "we're on the clock."

The hydraulics whirred and clicked around him as they dismantled his suit, but he didn't move his gaze from the slimy trickster a few yards away. They mirrored each other's movements as they entered the top floor of Stark Tower from opposing entrances.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki said, almost scathingly.

"Uh, actually, I'm planning to threaten you," he replied lightly.

"You should have left your armour on for that," Loki pointed out, a smirk twisting his lips.

"Yeah," Tony agreed walking down the stairs to the bar, "but it's seen a bit of mileage and you've got the, er, Glow Stick of Destiny. Would you like a drink?"

Loki smiled widely. "Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no, no, threatening," Tony corrected. "No drink? Are you sure? I'm having one."

"The Chitauri are coming," Loki reminded him, turning to look out on the Manhattan skyline. "Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," Tony replied simply, pulling the stopper out of the decanter. "That's what we call ourselves," he clarified at Loki's bemused expression. "We're sort of like a team. 'Earth's mightiest heroes' – type thing," he said, casually pouring himself the aforementioned drink.

"Yes, I've met them," Loki grinned, obviously not intimidated by them or their new name.

"Yeah," Tony let out a short breath of laughter, "It takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But let's do a head count, here: your brother, the demigod," Loki grimaced and turned away, allowing Tony to covertly slip the Mark VII homing bracelets onto each wrist. "A sorceress who I suspect has only shown us a small percentage of her abilities, a super soldier – a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with _breath-taking_ anger management issues, a couple of master assassins and _you_, big fella. You've managed to piss off every single one of them."

Loki smirked confidently. "That was the plan."

Tony frowned. "Not a great plan," he pointed out, taking a sip of his drink before walking towards Loki. "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army," Loki said, unfazed by Tony's words.

"We have Granger," Tony replied, raising his glass in the direction of the young woman who had just entered the room, wand at the ready. Loki's smirked widened when he saw her.

"How nice of you to join us, Agent Granger," Loki greeted, looking wickedly pleased. He took a couple of steps towards her but she tightened her grip on her wand.

"Stay where you are," she warned sharply, her eyes glancing warily at his sceptre.

He raised his empty hand, palm up, in a pacifying gesture. "As you wish, my dear." He turned back to Tony with an enquiring eyebrow. "Had you finished your threats?"

Tony rolled his shoulders slightly, feeling that he'd lost the flow a little, but he pressed on. "You're missing the point. There is _no_ throne. There's _no_ version of this where you come out on top. _Maybe_ your army comes and _maybe_ it's too much for us, but it's _all_ on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."

Loki's mood was severely dampened, his gaze cold. "How will your friends have time for me when they are so busy fighting _you_?" He turned his head on the last word and glared at Granger. Her eyes widened and she stared at Tony in alarm.

"_Go!_" he urged as Loki advanced imperiously on her, the tip of his spear glinting menacingly. But Granger suddenly fell to her knees, whimpering and holding a hand to her head.

"You _really_ shouldn't have made that connection between our minds," Loki told her lightly, almost like a school teacher pointing out a pupil's mistake.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. any time now," Tony muttered with a sense of dread as Loki's face twisted and he viciously pulled Granger to her feet by her hair. She whimpered again, eyes shut tight but a tear still trickled down her cheek.

"Hey!" Tony objected, hurrying forward to try and protect her. Loki released her and she crumpled back to the floor, but he paid no mind as he launched Tony across the room with minimal effort. From where he landed on the floor, Tony watched as the part of the wall that stored the Mark VII slid open, but it was moving far too slowly for his liking. The blue energy in Loki's sceptre glowed more brightly and Granger, seemingly unable to move due to the pain in her head, was helpless to prevent Loki from placing the tip against her chest…

The Mark VII burst across the room, knocking Loki off his feet, and wrapping itself around Tony thanks to the homing bracelets. He hurried forwards as the final pieces clicked into place and pulled Granger to her feet, shaking her slightly so that she'd open her eyes. "Come on, Hermione," he muttered urgently, panic rushing through his body. If Loki had turned her, things had gotten a thousand times worse. Her eyelids fluttered then opened.

Icy, blue irises peered back at him.

"Fuck."

* * *

A/N Cliffhanger!

Until next time...


	8. Chapter 8

A/N Thanks for your support! I won't keep you any longer!

* * *

_Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck!_

Acting quickly, Tony yanked Granger's wand from her hand and snapped it in half – family heirloom or not, he couldn't afford for her to completely dismantle his suit with a single spell, like she had on their first meeting.

She apparated away from him to the other side of the room, which was lucky for her because Tony had been about to deliver a rather hefty blow to her head to try and force out Loki's influence, as Romanoff had done with Barton. The problem with that plan, was that Granger was capable of some serious hopping about – it would be almost impossible to get a hold of her long enough to knock her out.

Loki rose to his feet, having been forced over by the deployment of the Mark VII, and took in Granger's changed eye colour with glee. Tony reassured himself that at least without her wand, her threat-level was severely reduced…

"I see you'll be needing this back," Loki said to her, tossing something through the air which she caught easily. Tony looked in shock between the broken wand in his hand and the one Granger was twirling fondly between her fingers. She had _two_ wands?! How had he failed to notice that the one she'd been using the last couple of days quite clearly wasn't the vinewood model she normally sported? He didn't waste time to find out the details, choosing instead to power up and launch himself out of the closest window. There were times to stay and fight, and times to run away. This situation was definitely the latter.

"You didn't think you were going to get away that easily, did you?" Granger's voice said in his ear as he arced through the sky. Some sort of sixth sense made him look backwards and he saw that there was yet another nasty surprise; he didn't understand how (he never did where she was concerned) but Granger had turned herself into strange silvery-smoke and she was having no trouble in keeping up with him. The vital question was whether or not she could still shoot spells at him while doing her best meteor impression. A flash of red light flew past an inch from his shoulder: question answered.

Tony increased his speed, hoping to shake her off. "A little help would be appreciated, J.A.R.V.I.S," he pointed out, weaving between buildings. Unfortunately, he could see in the reflections of the windows that she was still on his tail.

"Miss Granger and I – " J.A.R.V.I.S. began but Tony cut him off angrily.

"I don't care what promise you made with her; she's trying to _kill_ me! Surely that takes precedence over any pre-existing agreements!"

"Point ceded, sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. replied and new information about Granger started showing up before Tony's eyes, allowing him to jerk out of the way of another spell. He flipped over and sent a burst of energy at her which she avoided easily.

A large beam of blue light erupted from the top of Stark Tower, and an ethereal black portal emerged high above the city. Instantly, figures started journeying through it.

"Right, army," Tony reminded himself, the Chitauri having slipped from his mind in the last few minutes. He flew towards the invaders to get his first glimpse of the enemy, but focused most of his concentration on avoiding Granger's magic.

The aliens were big, ugly brutes, riding serious hover vehicles that could move at a decent speed. Tony released the small missiles that were stored in his suit's shoulder, watching with satisfaction as various Chitauri warriors disappeared in flames, but there were many more who streamed past unaffected. He swerved between the destruction, hoping to avoid Granger in the melee.

"Any sign of her?" Tony asked J.A.R.V.I.S as he couldn't detect any trace himself.

"None, sir, Miss Granger has gone."

For some reason that made Tony more anxious than when she was right behind him.

"Tony's been turned! Tony's been turned!" her panicked voice cried in his ear. "Cut all communication with him at once!"

"No, wait! It's not me," he yelled, realising that she was talking to Romanoff, Barton and Rogers in the quinjet. "It's Granger who's been Loki-fied."

"What the _hell_ is going on?" Romanoff's voice barked at them.

He and Granger immediately launched into their accusations about each other and Tony mentally kicked himself for not warning the others earlier. He really needed to get a handle on this 'team' thing.

"Shut up, both of you," Rogers ordered, and in frustration, Tony shot energy at a couple of Chitauri warriors that were following him.

"Don't you think Granger would have been able to take care of me in milliseconds if _I _was the one that wascompromised?" Tony pointed out, swerving to avoid Chitauri fire.

"He threw me off Stark Tower before I got a chance!" Granger lied in response.

"Open the video link," Tony suggested, "you'll see my eyes are clear of that lunatic's spell."

"Yeah, right," Granger scoffed. "Like _you_ can't manipulate the image to show them exactly what you want to see. Look, the portal's opened and the Chitauri are coming through fast. I'm going to take care of Tony and then I'll be able to help."

"This is a nightmare," Natasha muttered, glancing at Clint and Rogers, who wore matching troubled expressions. "We're just heading up Park now, so I guess we'll soon see who's telling the truth." She cut communications to both Stark and Granger and let out an irritated sigh. "God, I hope Stark's the one that's lying."

"Same here," Barton muttered, eyes fixed ahead, "otherwise we're totally screwed."

"Is there no way to stop her?" Rogers asked in alarm.

"What, without killing her?" Natasha responded dourly and he balked at the potential lengths they'd have to go. "And even that would be difficult enough." She scowled at the beam of blue light that was coming from the Cube. Man, she hated that thing – and Loki too. She'd nearly lost Clint, _had_ lost Coulson and now there was big uncertainty where Granger was concerned…

People died – that was a fact of life, and you saw a lot more than your fair share when you worked as an operative. At a quite early age, Natasha had lost count of the number of deaths she'd been witness to, but this assignment was different; Clint, Coulson and Granger weren't just colleagues, they were her friends. Loki had made a big mistake making this thing so personal. She was going to make him pay.

Madison Square Park had just sped by on their left when a purple light swept through the quinjet and everything shut off at once – including the twin engines that had been keeping them airborne.

"Shit," Clint muttered, as he and Natasha feverishly started trying to get things started again. "It's Granger, alright."

The jet started plummeting to the ground. "Stark, we're going down!" Steve yelled, "Hermione's wiped the electricity!"

"I'm on it!" Tony replied instantly but Steve had a feeling it would be too late. "Evacuate?" he suggested to the others as the ground came rapidly closer.

"I can't get the rear door to open!" Natasha replied, still rapidly pressing a number of switches.

Steve staggered to the cockpit and tried to forcefully kick the front window out to give them an exit but the material was too strong even for him.

"Brace yourself!" Barton warned, the street barely fifty feet away.

A shudder went through the jet and its trajectory levelled out slightly.

"Told you I was on it," Tony's voice said in their ears, though he sounded a little strained. "Get ready for a slightly less bumpy landing than you were about to have ten seconds ago."

The quinjet bounced along Park Avenue a few times, before coming to a rest a couple of blocks away from Stark Tower.

"Well, that's one way to make an entrance," Barton muttered, removing his headset and unstrapping himself from the seat.

"Good team work, Avengers," Hermione praised in their ears, making them pause. "Are you ready for round two? It would be a shame to keep you three cooped up in that jet, after all."

They shared uneasy glances. "What does she m – " Steve began to ask before Hermione appeared in the jet, grabbed hold of him and disapparated again.

The next thing he knew, Steve was back, hundreds of feet above Manhattan, freefalling to the ground.

"Corner of 45th and Lexington, Tony," he could just about hear Granger's teasing voice with the wind howling past him. "Better hurry up!"

Steve tightened his grip on his shield; it wouldn't be able to save him from a fall at this height, but it was comforting to know that it was with him all the same.

A silver smoke streamed next to him. "Don't worry, he'll save you," Hermione's voice shouted at him from the smoke, and he realised that she was flying in her own bizarre, magical way. "This was me giving Tony a bit of an easy start. See, here he comes." Smoky-Hermione disappeared and Steve saw Stark's suit racing towards him.

"I've got you, Cap," Tony said as he plucked him out of the sky.

"Put me on the nearest roof," Steve urged. "Hermione said I was the easy start."

"Damn," Tony muttered, but duly did as suggested, before zooming off again.

"Bryant Park!" Granger announced breezily and Tony altered his course. "It had to be somewhere a bit less built up because I have no doubt Barton would've used one of his fancy arrows to save himself."

"I could do without the running commentary," he replied in a forcibly light tone. He couldn't let Granger see how frustrated he was getting by her 'game'; all the time he was swooping around trying to catch members of his team, nothing was being done to stop Loki or the advancing Chitauri.

Tony homed in on Bryant Park and he saw that Barton was a lot closer to the ground than either of them would like; Granger must have dropped him from a lesser height than Rogers.

"Come on," Tony muttered, urging the suit to go faster, even though he knew he was already moving at maximum speed. The people frantically running away from the Chitauri didn't even notice the man falling from the sky. Tony reached out and prevented Barton's demise just a few yards from the ground.

"Can't stop," Tony yelled, tossing Barton gently to the grass then flying away.

A loud groan reverberated all around him and he looked up to the portal in trepidation. A huge beast emerged. The only way Tony could describe it, was as a cross between a whale and an alligator but on a gargantuan scale.

Things were very quickly getting out of hand.

"Don't let that beast distract you, Tony," Granger said, bringing him back to their sick game of 'catch', "Natasha's about to be impaled on the spire of the Chrysler Building." He quickly spotted the falling figure of Agent Romanoff and felt confident that he'd have enough time to save her. "Or you can save the little child that's about to make a rather nasty stain on Rockefeller Plaza."

Tony clenched his jaw but didn't alter his path from the summit of the Chrysler Building. She was bluffing, she had to be…

"What, no reaction?" Granger mocked. "No hilarious, sarcastic comment?"

"I'm a little busy," he bit out angrily. A silver and red figure, that Tony was only too happy to see, raced through the sky on an intercept course with Romanoff. Tony altered his path to Rockefeller Centre, knowing that Thor would see the agent safely back to the ground. He was still confident that Granger was lying about the child, but he had to go to make sure. He swerved between a trio of Chitauri hover vehicles, blasting them as he went.

Rockefeller Plaza looked reasonably normal when you ignored the masses of screaming, terrified people, but there was definitely no one plummeting to the earth. And that's when he realised it was a trap.

He tried to fly out of the plaza but he got twenty feet off the ground before his suit slammed into an invisible barrier. He blasted energy at it with his suit and, although it didn't violently rebound at him like the Tesseract had, it didn't show any sign of breaking either.

"I don't know if any of you can hear me," Tony said, hoping the rest of his team could, "but Granger's got me contained and out of action for the moment…"

Across Midtown, Thor had returned Agent Romanoff to the ground just outside Stark Tower and both were entirely unaware of Tony's misfortune.

"Allow me to take on the Sorceress," Thor suggested.

Natasha pulled a pistol from her holster and sent him an impassive look. "Rather you than me," she shrugged. "Good luck finding her."

"Do not concern yourself; she'll find me," he promised, before leaping into the air and taking out one of the Chitauri hover vehicles with one swipe of his enormous hammer as he went.

Thor realised that, only a year ago, he would be thoroughly enjoying his time, striking down enemy after enemy and narrowly avoiding danger at every turn. He almost missed his younger self, for that Thor had not cared about the consequences, didn't consider what pain and sorrow could occur at a moment's notice…

He paused on the roof of one of the tall buildings and held Mjølnir aloft, summoning the elements. He directed lightning into the sky, watching with little joy as various Chitauri vessels burst into flames and the heavens echoed with thunder.

"Thunderstorms often used to scare me as a child," a female voice commented behind him, causing Thor to turn to face her; the Sorceress. It was unnerving to see the iciness that now emanated from Hermione's eyes, as opposed to the warm, kind brown they'd once been. She seemed perfectly calm despite the battle that raged around them.

"Do they scare you still?" he asked and the look she sent him was even colder than her previous gaze.

"No."

Thor leapt up to avoid the many bright flashes of magic that she abruptly directed his way. He knew that his main hope of overcoming Hermione was his belief that her magic would be less effective on his Asgardian body. If it wasn't, then this could be a very short fight.

A blue light streaked towards Thor's chest. He held Mjølnir out to protect himself and, thankfully, the spell was deflected. Hermione ducked away from her rebounded spell with a look of surprise on her face. It seemed that she hadn't anticipated that Mjølnir would be immune to her magic.

He threw the hammer at her – not hard enough to kill her should it make contact, but certainly enough to rid her of Loki's influence. His eyes widened as she flew away from where she'd been standing in the form of a light coloured smoke, only to reappear a few feet away. Unfortunately, this now meant he was unable to deflect her spells. Thor leapt again, holding out his hand to summon Mjølnir back, but one of her spells struck his left temple, eliciting a sharp cut, and another caused him to feel a crack in his right hand. He had a strong suspicion that, had he been human, his injuries would be a lot more severe.

"Remember who you _are_," he urged as he landed behind her, "not who Loki wants you to be."

Hermione laughed. "Your appeals to my better nature as are _wasted_ on me as they are your brother. The portal is open and the Chitauri are here – there is nothing you can do."

He threw the hammer again, more quickly this time. A thick metal wall suddenly blocked Mjølnir's path, leaving a large dent in the conjured obstruction. Obviously, there were some magical incantations his enchanted hammer couldn't breach. He walked forwards, summoning it back to his hand. The next thing he knew, the ends of the wall had closed around him like the jaws of a great metallic beast and they squeezed him tightly, trapping him in their embrace. He roared, trying to free himself, but he was completely immobile from the neck down. Not even Mjølnir could help him when it was imprisoned so securely against his body.

"Good luck trying to escape," Hermione commented lightly. "The sticking charm I used to join the edges is permanent."

Thor yelled again, straining with all his might…

Clint bent his knees slightly, lowering his centre of gravity, which was not easy to do when you were stood on an enormous alien beast that was flying through Midtown on a mission of destruction. He'd quickly seen from the ground that the creature's body was not only encased in a metallic armour but it was also covered in a natural, thick shell that he had no chance of breaching with arrow or bullet, so he'd fought his way to a good vantage point and taken a flying leap onto its back. There had to be a weak spot somewhere; he just had to find it, _quickly_.

He'd just destroyed a Chitauri hover vehicle that was intent on blasting him out of existence when he saw her, Granger, watching over proceedings from the top of Grand Central Terminal. She was standing between the statues of Mercury and Minerva, looking almost insignificant amongst the large sculpture. She hadn't seen him, he was sure of that, so he selected the sedative laced arrow tip he'd used on her a couple of days ago, aimed for half a second, then fired.

He watched its trajectory with bated breath. They hadn't heard from Stark or Thor in the last few minutes and Clint could only presume that Granger had overcome them in some form or other. She wasn't a killer (that was clear to anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. who knew her) but _he_ knew better than anyone what the influence of the Tesseract could do to someone's mind.

The arrow sailed straight through her. He realized that Granger had obviously taken a leaf out of Loki's book as her image flickered out of existence.

"You've really got a thing about shooting me, haven't you?" an amused voice said behind him and he turned in time to see Hermione's foot connect with his ribs, launching him into the air.

Clint reached out as he fell, just managing to cling on to the railing on the Park Avenue viaduct to prevent his death. He hung there for a moment, slightly winded. "I've just seen Granger," he gasped, hauling himself over the barrier. He didn't know who was still around to hear him but he wanted all those that were to be aware. "She kicked me off the giant alien outside Grand Central."

"What did you expect me to do?" Granger asked, landing next to him with a popping sound. "You tried to shoot me again."

Clint struck out at her with his fist, hoping to keep her busy enough that she wouldn't have time to use her magic. It was a desperate hope but it was also all he could think of doing. He was far stronger than her when it came to physical combat, despite the many months of training she'd had from Natasha. All it would take was one timely punch…

Steve heard Clint and Hermione's conversation and felt his already dampened spirits deflate even more. He had a horrible feeling that she had been dismantling their team one by one.

The only upside was that he was already close by, having raced his way down Lexington and along 42ndonce Stark had dropped him off on some random roof. The carnage the Chitauri were unleashing on New York was extreme, but he'd barely seen a civilian on the streets, which was something positive to cling on to.

He leapt onto an abandoned taxi cab, then onto the viaduct outside the train terminal and cast his eyes along the roadway, seeking out Barton and Hermione. A couple of Chitauri warriors appeared next to him and he wasted little time in knocking them to the ground while continuing his search. He spotted them a few yards away, engaged in a physical fight, arms and legs sparing quickly. Steve didn't understand why she would waste her time like that when she could surely defeat Barton in a second with her magic.

Steve ran forwards and sensed something coming towards him from behind. He turned, poised to attack, but saw it was Agent Romanoff. She sent him a grim nod but then the sound of a gun firing made them look at their colleagues in alarm.

"Now we're even," Hermione said simply as Barton fell to the floor, clutching his left shoulder. She must have removed his weapon from its holster mid-fight. She tossed the gun into the air and sent a spell after it, making it explode into a thousand tiny pieces.

She glanced up then and saw them, showing no reaction to the sight of her teammates. An assortment of spells flew in their direction. Steve raised his shield and ducked behind a car, watching in dismay as a red light struck Natasha on the chest and she fell to the ground, hopefully only unconscious.

Was that it? Was he now the last one standing?

Steve felt the car he was crouching behind shudder slightly and he leapt away from it just before it was blasted violently across the road by one of Hermione's spells. A motorbike careened towards him and he had no choice but to jump off the viaduct down to the street below. She appeared a few feet away from him with a cracking noise and he immediately raised his shield to protect himself from the onslaught of magic. He was reasonably confident that the vibranium would keep him safe from offensive spells but he had no idea whether the same would be true if Hermione tried to shrink it down to miniscule size or a similar non-threatening form of magic.

He sensed, rather than saw, her apparate behind him to try and catch him off guard and he turned just in time so that her spell ricocheted away, shattering the windows of a restaurant under the roadway.

A bus, mercifully free of any passengers, sped towards him. There was no time to dive out of the way as he was trapped by the roof of the viaduct, the restaurant behind him and the large vehicle that was bearing down on him. With no other resort, he leapt through the broken windows of the diner. Glass, masonry and furniture flew all around him as the bus crashed into the wall a split second after he'd cleared it.

Despite the sounds of the battle that was raging just outside, Steve could still hear her gentle footsteps as she traversed the rubble and ruin inside the diner. He was buried under half a dozen chairs and tables, but that was definitely to his advantage because he still had a somewhat limited view of the restaurant and he was confident that she hadn't seen him.

There was a familiar cracking noise and he frowned in surprise because Hermione hadn't disappeared like the sound had suggested.

"That's enough, Hermione," an unfamiliar voice said.

Steve's eyes widened in amazement as a young man stepped cautiously into view. He had messy, black hair, glasses and he was definitely holding a wand like Hermione's in his hand…

* * *

A/N Another Cliffhanger?! Anyone would think I _like _giving them to you...

The smoke-like apparation that Hermione does in this chapter is the one seen mostly in the film version of Order of the Phoenix but it's also in Half Blood Prince when the Death Eaters destroy the Millenium Bridge in London. Seeing as they do that mid-flight, I've reasoned that it's ok for Hermione to cast spells when she's apparating/flying too. Obviously, Hermione could have killed the Avengers ridiculously easily which, let's be honest, would be a rather depressing end to this story. The reason she plays with them instead is a) because she's fighting the Tesseract and b) because Loki would probably want the world to watch _him_ completely destroy the Avengers instead so she's just isolating them.

One chapter left in this fic now!

Until then…!

xXx


	9. Chapter 9

A/N That wasn't too long a wait, was it?

I was pretty blown away by all the reviews so THANK YOU SO MUCH! Some of them were actually hilarious!

* * *

Hermione laughed when she saw the new arrival, while Steve's mind whirled at the revelation of another person capable of magic. Hermione had never told him that she was the only one like herself, but the way she and everyone acted had certainly given him that impression.

"Come to stop me, Harry?" she asked patronisingly. "Good luck; thanks to the Tesseract, I've never felt more at one with my magic."

Steve saw that the young man, Harry, reacted grimly to these words. "I don't want to hurt you," he said.

"I'd like to see you try," she scoffed confidently.

The room was suddenly lit with flashes from both wands and Steve was forced to close his eyes to protect them from the brightness. The ground shook with the sheer power of their magic. More rubble and shards of brick and glass pinged around him as the ricochets of their spells caused small explosions. Even though he was buried under the wreckage of the diner, Steve could still sense that the air was practically humming with the energy they were launching at each other.

"Hermione, _please_, I'm your best friend!" Harry cried above the din. "Does that mean _nothing_ to you?"

"What use would I have of friends?" she replied, sounding almost puzzled. Steve took advantage of the pause in their spell-casting to open his eyes. He watched Harry take a couple of tentative steps forward.

"You and I know better than anyone what can be achieved with a friend at your side," he said gently. "I would never have destroyed the horcruxes if it hadn't been for you – I wouldn't have even made it through my first year at school!"

Steve could quite clearly see that Harry's words were having little effect on her; the unnervingly icy eyes remained resolute. "Cancel the anti-disapparition wards," she ordered coldly.

"Why? So you can go back and wreak more havoc on this city?" Harry countered. Steve could tell by the man's defeated demeanour and the way his eyes kept searching Hermione's face, that Harry was extremely upset by the change in his 'best friend'.

"Fine," she replied testily, placing a hand on her hip. "I'll get out the hard way." And so the intense magical battle resumed.

Steve carefully started to shift the debris on top of him, anxious that he not be noticed by Hermione. He couldn't be sure, but he assumed that an 'anti-disapparition ward' stopped her from disapparating. That might just be the key in stopping her – as long as this other magical person kept her occupied for long enough. However, that might be a problem because from what Steve could see amid the dazzling bursts of light, Hermione appeared to have the upper hand in their duel.

Steve inhaled deeply and tensed his muscles in preparation. With an almighty heave, he burst free of the rubble, somersaulting through the air towards Hermione. Given his position in her peripheral vision, she didn't have time to react as he brought his shield swiftly down across her skull as he landed. Her eyes instantly rolled shut but he managed to reach out and grab her before she hit the floor. Instead, he laid her down gently, letting out a breath of pure relief.

Harry ran over to them. "Is she all right?" he asked worriedly, grabbing her hand.

"She should be fine," Steve replied. "Hopefully the Tesseract's influence will be gone when she wakes."

"Thank, Merlin," Harry muttered, "I couldn't have held her off for much longer."

Steve stared at the man, unable to stay his curiosity. He didn't have much difficultly in believing that Harry and Hermione were friends given the anxiousness in his features. Harry seemed to sense his gaze because he looked up at Steve with a frown.

"I guess I'm rather a contradiction to her story," he said.

Steve shook his head. "She wouldn't tell me anything about herself."

Harry's frown deepened. "Why?"

"I got the impression that she didn't want to lie to me."

Harry's intense stare was making Steve highly uncomfortable. "Interesting," Harry said quietly. "Well, if Hermione trusts you then I'm going to do the same. If you were anyone else, I'd modify your memory so that you'd never remember me but it might be useful to have someone in the know."

"Uh, sure," Steve replied, not really understanding what he was talking about.

"When she wakes, she probably won't recall our duel and that's for the best," Harry continued, getting back to his feet. "Don't tell her I was here, it'll distract her from defeating Loki with the rest of your team and we can't afford for anyone else to find out."

Steve also rose, shaking his head. "I'm not going to lie to her."

"Just tell Hermione you knocked her out; that's not a lie," Harry pointed out.

Steve still wasn't particularly happy about the deception. "Can you not stay and fight the Chitauri? We could really use your help, whether it goes against Hermione story or not!"

"Don't worry, I'm staying," Harry replied, "but you'll have a hard time seeing any of us."

Steve's eyes widened in surprise. "_Us?_ How many of you are there?"

"Enough," he said simply. "How do you think Loki and his army haven't managed to annihilate the city yet?"

Steve balked at that statement. He hadn't seen a single magical person other than Hermione during his exploits in Midtown. If these people were truly helping to maintain the situation, they could probably defeat Loki's army easily…but apparently they were reluctant to let themselves be seen doing so. "Your secrecy is really that important to you?" he asked in amazement.

Harry shrugged. "It's not my call to make." Harry pointed his wand at the ceiling of the destroyed diner, muttered a couple of words that Steve couldn't hear, then he promptly disapparated.

Steve looked at the spot he'd disappeared from in both dismay and rejuvenated optimism. Their odds of defeating Loki had now greatly increased but, he looked down at Hermione, these magical people were extremely vexing.

* * *

Hermione woke with cry and looked around herself in alarm. She was lying in the middle of a Manhattan street, sheltered between a yellow taxi cab and a minivan. Steve and Barton were looking at her cautiously.

"What happened?" she asked urgently. "How did you stop me? I- I don't remember anything after…" she gasped and her eyes zeroed in on Clint's bloodied shoulder. "Oh, Merlin. I shot you!" She scampered over to him, legs still slightly shaky, and noticed Natasha lying motionless next to him. "She, she's not – "

"Agent Romanoff is simply unconscious," Steve interrupted putting a pause to Hermione's panic. "You hit her with a red spell."

Hermione swallowed thickly in relief and pointed her trembling wand at Natasha, reviving her, before focusing on Barton. She summoned blood replenishing and pain relief potions from her magical pocket which he took from her without any objections. "I'm so sor-"

"Save it," Barton barked between downing the liquids as Natasha stirred next to them. "You and I both know it's not your fault. Just fix my shoulder so I can kill some of these bastards."

Hermione nodded, relieved to see some colour returning to his pale cheeks.

A Chitauri hover vehicle zoomed past, firing at them. Steve leant over them, protecting them with his shield as best he could. "Er, we'll give you some cover," he suggested, pulling Natasha to her feet. "It's good to have you back, Hermione."

"Yeah, blue eyes really weren't a good look on you," Natasha joked but Hermione could detect the warmth in her tone. They climbed onto the taxi and Hermione forced herself to forget about the battle that was raging around them.

"How long has it been since I shot you?" she asked Barton, probing the bullet wound with her wand.

"About fifteen minutes," he answered. "You can heal me, right?"

Hermione nodded. "The bullet has fractured the upper part of your Humerus bone. I'm going to have to –"

"I don't care," he interjected. "Just do it."

Hermione tried not to let his abrupt tone distract her. She expected Barton was very frustrated that he was unable to get his revenge on Loki and she resolved to be as careful as possible in healing him – if she screwed up Hawkeye's shoulder, there was a possibility he'd never be as effective in shooting his arrows anymore.

One good thing about her run-in with Loki was that she had her preferred wand back and it was still much more powerful after its blast from the Tesseract.

She was about to make an incision to make it easier for her to extract the bullet when the body of a Chitauri warrior suddenly landed on the ground next to them.

"Oops! Sorry about that," Natasha yelled over her shoulder. Hermione set her jaw and re-focused.

Four minutes later, Clint was rotating his arm to check that his shoulder was in working order.

"How is it?" Hermione asked anxiously. "Will it do?"

Barton reached behind him, retrieved an arrow from his quiver and shot at a Chitauri vehicle that was soaring a hundred feet above them. The hover ship careened to the ground.

"It'll do," he confirmed, but there was an amusement in his eyes suggesting that he didn't hold anything against her. "Now, go and undo whatever you did to Stark and Thor."

Hermione nodded, guilt flooding her stomach. "I'll be back soon," she promised, before disapparating.

She undid the powerful wards containing Tony the second she appeared in Rockefeller Plaza. "I'm sorry," she said breathlessly. "Now, go kick some Chitauri arse!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Tony replied, shooting off into the sky.

Freeing Thor was slightly more complicated, but not much. When she'd moulded the metal wall to contain the Asgardian, she'd joined the ends with a permanent sticking charm. However, there was nothing to stop her from slicing the thick metal open at another point.

"Thank the All-Father you are here," Thor cried when she appeared next to him. Judging by his sweat drenched hair and red cheeks, he'd been straining to get free the entire time she'd been away.

"I'm going to cut you free," she told him, considering a number of slicing and gouging hexes that should do the job. It took far longer than she would've liked, but after a few minutes she'd made two thick incisions down the length of Thor's metal container and she was able to pull it apart.

"My brother will pay for all he has done," Thor vowed to her, placing a comforting arm on her shoulder.

"I certainly hope so," she responded dryly.

"Come," he said gravely, "I fear this battle is far from over."

"I'll meet you down with the others," she replied, indicating towards Grand Central Terminal.

She left again, relieved that the team was mostly together once more. All they were missing now was Bruce…

The viaduct was crowded with Chitauri bodies when she arrived and a few others fell to the ground, electrocuted, as Thor touched down next to her.

Steve nodded when he saw them both. "Good. Let's re-evaluate the situation. Where do we stand with the Cube?"

"The power surrounding it is impenetrable," Thor said grimly.

"Thor's right," Tony's voice spoke in their ear. "We gotta deal with these guys. Wisely or not, I've managed to attract the attention of the sumo-sized one. Wanna give me a hand, Granger?"

"What about Loki?" she pointed out.

"I have unfinished business with my brother," Thor declared.

"Get in line," Hermione and Barton said in unison.

"Save it," Steve ordered, constantly scanning around for an approaching enemy. "Loki's going to keep these things focused on us and that's what we need; containment. Hermione, you and Stark take care of the big fella and,"

He paused as Hermione's ringtone cut through the noise. She pulled it out looking puzzled but answered anyway. "Hello?"

"Hermione?"

"_Bruce!"_ she gasped and everyone looked at her in surprise. "Where are you?"

"I'm still in Vermont," he muttered, sounding apologetic. "Has it started yet?"

"Uh, yes, you could definitely say that," Tony interjected and Hermione scowled.

"Get off the line, Tony!" she admonished.

"What? I'm trying to trace it so that you can pick him up," he replied. "That's why you phoned, right, Dr Banner?"

Bruce sighed. "Call me crazy, but, yes."

"Bruce, are you sure?" she asked cautiously.

"Well, I can't let you guys have all the fun, can I?"

"Got him!" Tony crowed and passed on the coordinates to Hermione.

"I take it Banner's in?" Steve asked when she had hung up.

"Yes, I'm just going to Vermont to get him," she explained hurriedly. "I'll be back in a minute."

She disappeared and Steve looked over at Natasha in bewilderment. "Do you get used to hearing statements like that?"

She nodded with a twisted smile. "Sort of."

True to her word, Hermione was almost instantly back with them, Bruce alongside her. She looked over at him worriedly. "Are you okay?"

He nodded and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'm fine."

"Welcome back, Dr Banner," Steve greeted, while Bruce took in the devastation all around them.

"So, this all seems…horrible," he said simply.

"I've seen worse," Natasha said, obviously referring to her encounter with the Hulk.

"I'm sorry," Bruce replied.

"No, we could use a little 'worse'," she claimed.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this touching reunion," Tony said in their ears, "but tell Banner to suit up – I'm bringing the party to you." A loud crashing noise followed his words and they looked down Park to see Tony leading the huge beast towards them.

"I don't see how that's a party," Natasha commented dryly.

Bruce turned and started walking almost calmly towards his opponent.

Hermione gripped her wand tightly in preparation but Steve moved forwards anxiously. "Doctor Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

Bruce carried onwards and looked over his shoulder unconcernedly. "That's my secret, Captain; I'm always angry."

Hermione watched in fascination as he morphed into the Hulk: his clothes stretching and ripping, his skin changing into a dark green and his features becoming harder and squarer. The Hulk slammed his enormous fist into the monster's helmet, halting its momentum almost instantly as its body rose into the air behind it. The armour all along its body buckled, revealing the flesh beneath.

A curse was on the tip of Hermione's tongue but she hesitated. This thing, whatever it was, was still a living creature. Yes, it was being used to create widespread destruction but did that really justify killing it?

"Hold on!" Tony cried, zooming along to blast at the exposed skin. Hermione rapidly threw up a protective shield to guard her friends. The impact of the blast thundered ferociously against it but the barrier held firm as the monster slid off the viaduct to the road below.

The Chitauri warriors that clung to the walls of the skyscrapers around them screamed their rage at the beast's death.

"_What the hell was that_?" Natasha hissed at her as Hulk roared his defiance. "This is a war, Granger, there's no time for your damn morals now – don't you dare let Coulson down."

Hermione stared up at the screeching figures and felt her eyes sting at Natasha's words. Coulson would have done anything to protect the people of this world and he'd paid for that loyalty with his life. Would it really be so terrible of her to kill some aliens to save the innocent people of this city?

She felt Tony land near her. Turning her head, Hermione realised that the seven of them had formed a circle against the Chitauri. She was part of a team now; she was an _Avenger_.

"If it helps, these things are more machine than anything," Steve whispered from where he stood next to her. She initially felt embarrassed that he'd heard the conversation between herself and Natasha, but she took heart from what he'd said.

"Thank you," she replied softly. "I think that does help."

There was a deep groan in the sky above them and she looked up to see two more huge beasts emerge from the portal.

"Guys…" Natasha called, alerting everyone to the new arrivals.

"Call it, Captain," Tony said and they all awaited his instructions.

"All right, listen up," Steve ordered. "Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

"Can you give me a lift?" Barton asked, turning to Tony.

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas," he answered, grabbing Barton and shooting up into the sky with him.

"Thor," Steve continued, "you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up." Thor whipped his hammer round in a small circle a few times then flew off too. Steve turned to Natasha. "You and me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. Hulk…" The big guy grunted at him but Steve kept his cool. "Smash!" Hulk grinned and leapt up the side of the building, duly doing as commanded. "And Hermione," he paused, appraising her.

"Give them hell?" she suggested.

He nodded, the ghost of a smile flickering across his lips. "Couldn't have put it better myself."

She disapparated to one of the roofs opposite Barton and surveyed the scene. Dozens of hover vehicles soared through the sky and more of the huge monsters were coming through the portal. Dark clouds suddenly formed and she watched in awe as a huge burst of lightning was aimed at the entryway, causing one of the creatures to explode.

"Hey, Granger, are you just going to stand there and watch all day?" Barton said in her ear. "By my count, you've got a lot of catching up to do."

Hermione glanced over at him on the other side of Park. "You've been counting?" she scoffed. "Legolas really was a good nickname for you."

"Well, come on then, Gimli, get a move on," he joked. "I'm up to twenty-one already."

Hermione took a deep breath; she could do this.

Casting _Avada_ _Kedavra_ was completely out of the question but there were other ways to defeat the Chitauri that didn't involve that heinous spell. She tried to reassure herself that _man_slaughter wouldn't even apply to these creatures as they weren't even _human_. A couple of hover ships raced towards her, firing their weapons.

_Think of the game_, she told herself as she erected a protective shield, _worry about the rest later_.

"_Confringo!_" she cried, forcing herself to actually say the words. An orange, fire-like burst of energy raced to the first ship, making it burst into flames. "_Bombarda Maxima_!" The second vessel fell to the ground in ruins.

"Not bad, Granger," Barton commented lightly. "That's got you up to six already."

"Yeah… great," she sighed.

"Remember, each one you get is like ten kicks to Loki's balls," he said cheerfully, "and don't tell me that's not appealing."

Hermione chuckled despite the situation. "That's a very good point." She spotted a convoy of hover vehicles a couple of blocks over and flew off in pursuit. That's right, _flew,_ in human form. The only other good thing about Loki's spell was that it had freed her mind to try magic she'd been too apprehensive to attempt before. The strange mixture of flight and apparition meant that she was able to move at high speed and still cast spells at the same time – something she couldn't do in her animagus form.

She flew through the half dozen ships, taking each one out in turn, picturing the expression on Loki's face if he was watching.

"I'm up to twenty-two now," Hermione said as she took a breather on top of a brown brick building.

"_Damn_, you're better at this than I thought," Barton chuckled. "I'm only on twenty-eight."

"Try forty-six," Tony added cockily, barging in on their conversation. "And I finished off the big one so that's at least another twenty for me."

"Nope, they only count as one," Hermione corrected, "Everyone knows that."

"You only say that because you can't take one out yourself," he goaded.

Hermione rolled her eyes even though neither of them could see. She flew off again, headed for the nearest large creature, but not missing the opportunity to destroy some Chitauri vessels on her way.

She knew that the armour protecting the beast, both natural and Chitauri-made, was strong but that didn't necessarily mean that it would be impervious to her magic – just like Tony's suits. With that in mind, she cast and maintained the same dismantling spell as she flew down the length of the creature's body. She paused on top of a nearby building and watched the metallic armour unlatch into different sections and fall to the ground. Unsurprisingly, her exploits had attracted a lot of attention from the Chitauri and she was forced to spend a few moments apparating from vessel to vessel, blasting each into wreckage. Hermione flew back down to the beast, knowing that it would only be cruel to let the beast roam around unprotected. She landed on its head and cast her strongest bombarding hex before she lost her nerve, then instantly apparated a fair few blocks away so she wouldn't have to see what she'd done.

"I stand corrected," Tony admitted in her ear. "Twenty bonus points to you, Granger."

"We prefer to think of them as slaps to Loki's face," Barton pointed out, "with a mace." Hermione got the impression that Clint had very much sensed her aversion to causing death and she was grateful that he was trying to keep her from losing her composure.

"Forget the bonus points," she said dismissively. "That takes me up to fifty-three."

"Sixty-two," Tony retorted.

"OK, that's it. I'm officially withdrawing from the competition," Barton said grumpily. "You guys are too hardcore for me; may the best Avenger win."

"Oh, it is _so_ on," Tony crowed as he zoomed past her, beckoning jauntily as he did so. "Let's get to work, J.A.R.V.I.S."

Hermione shook her head at his antics. "How are things on the ground, Captain?" she asked, peering below.

"Ah, it's a bit busy," came Steve's breathless reply. "Natasha's gone to have another look at closing the portal."

"_What?_" Hermione asked in alarm, concerned for her friend's safety at attempting such a dangerous endeavour.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine," he grunted.

"All right," she replied doubtfully, taking the opportunity to put a couple of hover ships out of action. "I'll swing your way on my travels and free you up a bit." She leapt off the building, deciding that she wasn't going to take a break until she'd reached three figures.

The buildings and streets were blurs in her vision as she sped around Midtown taking out enemies wherever she could find them. It was quite clear that her magic didn't mix well with the Chitauri's bodies, as was often the case when you paired it with technology, but this was much to her advantage. She looped a couple of times around the area that Steve was defending, leaving the place enemy free, before spotting that one of the beasts was bearing down on the New York Public Library. She felt her anger rise and sped off in that direction, dismantling the creature's armour as she went. Casting her strongest shielding charm over her favourite American building, Hermione shot flames at the beast, forcing it to turn away. Thor suddenly leapt onto the creature's head and struck it forcefully with his hammer, electricity crackling through its body.

She came out of flying-mode and fought on the ground for a moment to prevent herself from getting too tired.

"Did I honestly just see you go out of your way to protect a _library_?" Tony asked in amazement.

"Yes, you did," she replied simply, not at all regretting her actions.

"I've never seen such a commitment to old bits of paper," he mocked but she didn't care. What _did_ bother her were the dozen-odd Chitauri warriors that came sprinting towards her, weapons firing. There didn't yet seem to be an end in sight to this army. Hermione really hoped that Natasha could find a way to shut down the portal soon; she couldn't keep this level of combat up forever.

Hermione flipped a trio of cars, one after the other, at the warriors, emotionally unmoved as she watched them get crushed under the metal.

A deep roar resounded from a nearby rooftop and she turned, seeing at least twenty Chitauri hover ships firing rapidly on what could only be Hulk. She flew upwards, conscious not to get to close to him after she'd nearly drowned him a few hours ago, and rained spells at the Chitauri. A surprisingly forceful combined explosion propelled her backwards and she had to twist in midair to apparate herself safely away from the building she was about to collide with.

"Granger, Stark, do you hear me?" Fury's voice barked at her urgently as she appeared on the corner of 40th and Madison. "You have a missile headed straight for the city."

Hermione felt her blood chill at his words.

"How long?" Tony asked, sounding much calmer than she felt.

"Three minutes, max," the Director replied grimly. "The payload will wipe out Midtown."

"Oh my God," she breathed, staring round the city with wide eyes.

"Chill, Granger, I've got this," Tony stated confidently.

Hermione saw him soar away to the South. "N-no, I can do something, I can, I can…"

"Have you ever tried mixing your magic with nuclear devices before?" he asked lightly.

"No, but –"

"Then now's really not the time to start," he stated firmly.

She turned around in distress, angrily destroying a number of Chitauri that were homing in on her position. "What are you going to do?" she asked, fearing that she already knew that answer.

"I can close it!" Natasha's strained voice cut across their conversation. "Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down."

"Do it!" came Steve's immediate response.

"No, wait!" Tony objected.

"Stark, these things are still coming."

"I got a nuke coming in," Tony explained. "It's going to blow in less than a minute and I know just where to put it."

Hermione racked her brain for an alternative to Tony's plan. If she acted quickly enough, there were a number of spells and charms she could try but… she realised with a sorrowful clench in her chest, Tony was right – it was just too risky.

She watched him get closer, the missile held tightly against his back, and struggled to think of anything to say to him that could possibly make the situation okay.

"I-I got up to one hundred and thirty-three," she choked out, her body trembling.

"Damn, Granger, I'm only on ninety-eight," he replied. His tone was supposed to be light but she could hear his underlying fear. "Hey, how many bonus points do I get for this little jaunt?"

"A million and one," she said softly as he raced up Park.

"All right, I'll take that," he said. "I'll be back in a minute, kid." The thrusters on his suit increased in power and he angled the trajectory steeply upwards, missing the surface of Stark Tower by inches. "I- I can't get hold of Pepper," he said quickly, as he soared ever closer to the portal. "Can you tell her for me –"

But whatever Tony wanted her to say, was abruptly cut off as he disappeared through the portal. Hermione let out a pained sob and then flew furiously after him, hoping against hope that there was still a chance that he'd come out alive.

She looped around the portal opening…watching…waiting.

After a few seconds, an intense white light bloomed in the portal's depths but the joy at the destruction of the Chitauri was muted; where was Tony?

_Accio Iron Man suit_, she thought desperately, concentrating hard. She had no idea whether her magic would work in deep space but it was all she could think to do. _Come on, Tony_, she thought as she continued to circle below the opening, refusing to relinquish the spell.

The beam from the tesseract vanished and Hermione watched in dismay as the portal started to close.

Something red, gold and extremely heavy suddenly burst through and collided with her with enough force to jar her back into a solid form and daze her for a few seconds.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Steve's voice cut through her muddled brain and she realized that she and Tony were plummeting to the ground. The dead weight from the Iron Man suit was pinning her down. She couldn't twist herself to apparate them away.

"I- I _can't_," she groaned, heaving at the suit even as the tops of the skyscrapers whipped past them.

The breath was knocked out of her as she was slammed to the side and a strong, muscular green arm wrapped around both her and Tony. Glass and rubble rained down on them as Hulk dragged his free hand down the side of the building to slow their momentum. He leapt away and Hermione gasped out a final, "_Spongify_," to soften their landing as they bounced down onto her least favourite viaduct.

Hulk pushed them both away and she rolled onto her knees, coughing and heaving. Going by the pain, she was pretty sure she had a couple of broken ribs but she couldn't care less at that moment.

Thor and Steve hurried over to Tony, the former ripping off the mask of the suit. Hermione crawled closer to them, feeling panicky when Steve put his ear to Tony's mouth. Steve's eyes locked with hers when he raised his head and she saw in them that he'd detected no sign of Tony breathing.

What was more, the pale blue light in Tony's chest, which indicated his arc reactor, was off.

"Can you do something?" Steve asked her.

Hermione open and closed her mouth, thinking rapidly. There wasn't a wound or injury for her to heal; his body had stopped functioning to keep him alive. There was _no_ spell that could bring back life…

She looked at Steve with tear rimmed eyes and shook her head minutely. He swallowed and laid a hand on her quivering shoulder.

Hulk bellowed, making her shudder.

Tony gasped awake.

Hermione stared at him, wide-eyed, barely daring to believe what she was seeing. Hulk roared again in triumph and Tony looked around at them all in shock. "What the hell?" he panted.

Hermione let out a strange, half-sob, half cry of delight and tried to wrap her arms around him. This was both very difficult to do (given his position on the ground) and rather uncomfortable (when he was encased in metal) but she was so relieved that she didn't care. She couldn't believe she'd nearly lost him.

"Woah, okay," Tony muttered in response, before looking at the others. "What happened? Please tell me none of _you_ kissed me."

"We won," Steve panted, looking though he barely believed it.

Tony leant his head back and closed his eyes for a moment in relief. "All right! Yay!" he said weakly. "Hurray! Good job, guys! Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day..." He patted Hermione rather clumsily on the head. "Hey, Granger, if this suit develops any rust, you're getting a rather serious bill from me."

Hermione sat up and wiped the tears away from her cheeks with a grin, before leaning forward to plant a kiss between his eyebrows. He looked up at her almost cross-eyed. "Looks like the best Avenger won after all," she said warmly, referring to their game.

"Please," he scoffed modestly, "it was nothi- No, wait, I almost died," he said seriously and then grinned at her. "I _am_ pretty awesome."

She laughed and accepted a hand from Thor to help get to her feet.

"Have you ever tried shawarma?" Tony asked them, still lying on the ground. "There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is but I want to try it."

"We're not finished yet," Thor reminded them all and the mood dampened slightly as they thought of Loki.

"And then shawarma after?" Tony suggested.

* * *

The next day dawned the same as any other. In fact, Hermione would almost describe the morning as beautiful, were it not for the loathsome individual standing opposite her, waiting to be escorted back to Asgard. However, it seemed the rest of the world were not so willing to accept that life was going to go on as normal after the battle of New York, if you went by the news coverage that she'd seen when she'd grabbed some breakfast anyway.

Countless individuals had come forward to be interviewed on television about what they had 'seen' take place. Hermione had her doubts that any of the interviewees were really witnesses to the battle, for she hadn't heard one of them recount anything that had actually taken place. What was more, there was little video evidence of the events. Apparently, all of the news cameras had suffered signalling errors soon after the portal had been opened. She was very relieved about this. The last thing she needed was a clip of her using magic to blow up aliens and it would be even worse if they showed her when she'd been laying waste to Midtown whilst under Loki's spell. They had been unable to hide the fact that Iron Man, Captain America and Hulk had been part of the battle and somehow even the other names of Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Sorceress had leaked out. Thankfully, she hadn't even heard a whisper of the name, Hermione Granger, amongst the coverage, and she reassured herself that there shouldn't be a reason why she would – her identity had been well protected within S.H.I.E.L.D.

Hermione watched as Dr Selvig lowered the Tesseract into the container that would see it safely to Asgard. She would _not_ be sorry to see the back of it.

She glanced over at Loki, and was disgruntled to see that he was staring at her again, as he had done ever since they'd converged at Central Park. It was different from the fascinated way he'd stared at her previously. Now, it was more like her was laughing at her. Someone had mercifully covered his mouth with a strange, metal contraption so she didn't have to see the smirk he was pointing in her direction but, nevertheless, she knew it was there. She wondered why he was bothering; he was about to be sent back to face his Father – there was nothing he could do anymore to hurt her. But the way his eyes seemed to laugh at her appeared to suggest otherwise. It was as though he knew something that she didn't and, whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

"Hey! Pack it in," Steve barked at Loki, becoming aware of the man's gaze. Loki's eyes shifted to Steve for a second, before crinkling with even more amusement as they refocused on Hermione.

"Would anyone object if I hit him?" Tony asked casually.

"_I_ won't tell if _you_ don't," Barton answered dryly.

But Loki was saved from their wrath as Thor approached his brother, holding out the Tesseract container. With a final upwards twitch of his eyebrows at Hermione, Loki turned to his brother and reluctantly accepted the offered handle. Thor nodded at them all, twisted his handle, and the two brothers ascended into the sky in twin bursts of blue light.

Hermione let out a breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding. Natasha reached out an arm to her and Hermione hugged the other woman before she could distance herself. Natasha tensed for a moment, then embraced her back.

"He'd be so proud of you," Natasha said quietly.

Hermione felt her throat constrict at the thought of Phil and she blinked quickly to rid herself of the tears that threatened to fall.

"Thank you," she whispered in response, pulling away.

Barton walked up to her, a thoughtful expression on his face. "So, do I still hold the all-comers record against you?" he asked. "I mean, I know that bastard had us on the run for a few days but I shot you. That's got to count for something, right?"

"You snuck up on me when my back was turned," she pointed out, surprising herself by being able to talk about the incident with amusement, "_and_ I was performing an incredibly complex spell."

"So…he and I are tied?"

Hermione laughed. "Okay, fine, you're tied."

"Hey, Granger, you're coming over for dinner later, right?" Tony called over to her after shaking Steve's hand. "Pepper wants your take on possible new colour schemes."

"You mean, _you_ want me to talk to Pepper about colour schemes so _you_ don't have to," she accused, hand on her hip.

Tony paused. "That's what I said, isn't it?"

Hermione rolled her eyes but kissed him on the cheek affectionately. "See you at seven."

"Knock first," he suggested with a wink, then got in his car.

Hermione turned to Bruce, who had taken the passenger seat. "How about, the next time I visit you, I come as myself?" she offered.

He smiled and nodded. "Sounds good to me. I think Tony's fixing me up with a hopefully indestructible phone so… just give me a call?"

"I will," she agreed warmly. She watched them drive off, following the trail left by Natasha and Barton, and she realised that only Steve and her were left.

He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, indicating his motorbike. "I, uh, thought that maybe you and I could find somewhere to pick up where we left off in fifties."

Hermione stared at him in puzzlement for a moment before she remembered their recent night in the library, studying past events that he'd missed. "Right, Rosa Parks," she recalled, amazed at how long ago that encounter seemed, even though it was less than a week. "If there's one thing I love, it's a keen learner." She smiled warmly at him and moved towards his bike.

"Hermione!" a familiar voice called behind her. She turned and gaped when she saw Harry jogging up to her.

"Wha- _Harry_?!" she yelled, running forwards and wrapping her arms tightly around him. "What are you doing here?" she squealed. She stiffened when she remembered that Steve was only a few feet away and she pulled back from Harry, holding him at arm's length. She looked awkwardly between the two men, unsure how to proceed.

Harry dropped his arms from Hermione's shoulders and held one out to Steve. "Good to see you again, Captain Rogers."

"Wait, _what?_ " Hermione gasped, watching in disbelief as Steve shook the proffered hand. "_What?!_"

* * *

The Other cursed Loki bitterly for making him bring this unpleasant news to Thanos. He could not see his lord; only the back of his throne, but that was small comfort.

"Humans…" he continued gravely, having told his master of the fate of Loki's army and passed on the Asgardian's final message. "They are not the cowering wretches we were promised. They stand. They are unruly and therefore they _cannot_ be ruled," he warned, fearing that Thanos had made a mistake in his latest orders. From his position kneeling on the floor, The Other saw a hand push down on the arm of the throne as Thanos got to his feet and he lowered himself closer to the ground so that his respect not be questioned. "To challenge them is to court death."

"Enough," Thanos' voice rumbled lowly. "It is decided. I have found my new daughter."

* * *

A/N And so ends 'Hermione Granger: Avenger'. Look out for 'Hermione Granger: Sorceress' coming soon (hopefully)!

Some of you might be disappointed in Harry's brief cameo and that the magical world hasn't been completely exposed but there's an awfully long way to go in this series. Be patient! The next fic deals with the first half of Phase 2 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and we finally get a bit of romance for Hermione! I may post the first chapter of that fic soon so you can add it to your favourites/alerts (should you wish to!) but I won't be regularly updating it until it's been completely written, just like I've done with Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D and Avenger.

Thank you all for your support of this story. I loved writing it so much!

Until next time!

Lil Drop of Magic

PS Sorry to the reviewer who wanted the 'Puny God' line to be included. I really wanted it be in the fic too but I couldn't make it fit!


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